The Knight
by LilyLewisFlame
Summary: David and his family are looking to forget their past and have a new start. He never expected to find the girl of his dreams, although he's very glad he did! But his past is creeping up again and his dream girl might not be able to get over her own past. Previously titled A New Start, has been re-uploaded with a few changes.
1. Chapter 1

**Hello there!**

**This story has been uploaded by me before but I wanted to make some changes because I wasn't satisfied with some of the details. If you were reading it before then feel free to read it again, the plot so far hasn't changed just a few details. Blood, sweat and tears always go into my writing so I hope you'll enjoy it.**

**This is a Hermione/OC fic and it will earn the M Rating so you have been warned.**

**Normally I won't have a AN at the beginning of a chapter but at the end so I'll so this once and once only...**

**Disclaimer: Surprisingly I don't own Harry Potter, I wish I did but I don't. I do however own David and his family.**

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David and Lucy sat in the headmistresses' office at Hogwarts trying to push away the nerves. David desperately needed this to go well, he wasn't sure what he was going to do if they said he couldn't enrol himself and his siblings. Lucy had two little kids of her own; he couldn't push all of the kids on her. It was bad enough she was already looking after half of them.

"You say all these children are your siblings?" Professor McGonagall raised an eyebrow at the list.

"Yes." David answered quickly.

"And your old school was destroyed? Well I would never say no to new students but you and Gabrielle shall have to show proof of your O.W.L's before I let you choose your subjects. I assume you are the only one of your siblings who missed a year of schooling?" She smiled only slightly.

David nodded and looked at his hands, "it wasn't because I was incapable, I just had to look after the younger half of my brothers and sisters." McGonagall suddenly looked curiously at them.

"How many siblings do you have?" David and Lucy looked at each.

"There are thirteen of us altogether." Lucy said uncertainly. McGonagall's eyebrows nearly shot of her head.

"Lucy of course has finished school and is working," David said quickly, "I want to actually take my final year, four of the kids have already started school, it'll be Samantha's first year and the other six aren't near being eleven yet."

"I know you said that your mother passed away because of the birth of the youngest child," McGonagall started slowly, "but what happened to your father?" She watched them very closely and David didn't dare look at Lucy.

"We don't know." Lucy said after a long silence. "We haven't seen him since four months before the youngest was born."

"Was your father a wizard?" McGonagall asked.

"He was a Muggle and our mother was a squib. She came from a completely pure-blood family but never expected to have magical children herself. She got a bit of a shock." Lucy supplied.

"Do you have accommodation?" McGonagall suddenly looked rather shocked and upset.

"Yeah, it's a tight fit, especially with my two children as well but we have a home." Lucy seemed to be in business mode now. David got the feeling this meeting wasn't going to last much longer. "We have the O.W.L's you need and the classes the kids –and David – want to take." She handed over the documents and waited as McGonagall looked through them.

"Well this all seems in order, I'm quite impressed Mr. Knight. Outstanding's in all _eleven_ of your subjects." David rubbed the back of his neck trying to hide the blush that was creeping into his face. "What do you want to do when you finally leave school?"

"I want to be a Healer." He smiled slightly.

McGonagall smiled at them before shuffling the papers and handing them back. "I'll see you and your four siblings on the first of September."

David smiled as he entered Lucy's house and Keira ran forward to jump up at David. At 3 years old she was starting to get out and about a lot more.

"Daddy!" She squealed and put her arms up. David complied and picked her up.

"No Keira, it's David." Lucy said sternly.

"No… Daddy!" Keira grinned.

David and Lucy shared a concerned look before smiling at the same time, "kids! Dinner!" She took the many bags of fish and chips into the kitchen and David followed.

He watched as Lucy kissed her husband – Horven, although Keira couldn't say that and tended to call him Oven – and then picked up her first born who was a two year old girl, Horven had the other child, a one year old boy. Darnda and Cruam had both been given very old – as in not used any more – Wizarding names. David was glad him and the rest of the family had been given Muggle names.

The kids came rushing down the stairs and went through their normal routine of dinner time. Gabrielle who was sixteen grabbed her food and ran back up the stairs muttering something about greasy fish and chips and how it was bad for her face.

Lukas who was fourteen and a bit more thoughtful than Gabrielle, sat in the kitchen with the youngest set of Twins – Edward and Tom who were five years old – and got their food ready as well as his.

Craig and Leo the eldest twins grabbed one of the triplets each and helped them dish up the food whilst grabbed the other and helped her.

David as usual sorted out Keira and sat in the big armchair with her on his lap and left Lucy and Horven to sort out their two kids.

"Did you get everything sorted for Hogwarts?" Craig asked. He couldn't wait to go to Hogwarts, he was definitely the clever one of the family. Him and Leo were only 12 but David was sure that Craig was more intelligent than him.

"Yeah, the Headmistress seemed okay. She was really curious about our… situation." David said as he picked up a bit of fish to give to Keira.

"Isn't everyone?" Leo snorted. "Sam, Kim's getting fish in Millie's hair." He gestured towards two of the triplets who stopped immediately what they were doing and grinned. They were definitely a bit mischievous when no one was looking. They constantly used their magic as well. And at 9 years old they could get into anywhere as long as they weren't supposed to be there. It probably didn't help that they were all identical. Craig and Leo weren't identical but Edward and Tom were. It was hard keeping track of who was who in this family.

All the younger kids had shown magical power from day one. He didn't know why but they were all powerful from a young age.

After dinner David put the youngest kids to bed, he knew Keira would wait until about midnight and then she would sneak into his bed; it was a newish development – since she started walking really. He had about ten minutes to have a shower before Gabrielle would be yelling to get out because it was her turn for her thirty minute shower.

He was stood in the shower for all of thirty seconds before he felt himself getting hard. It was ridiculous the little time he had on his own. He had definitely been neglecting his… little friend. Although, he thought quite smugly, it wasn't that little.

He had to laugh at his own stupidity sometimes.

He washed his hair and body and was going to get out the shower but he decided he couldn't ignore the full hard on now. He moved his hand to grip himself and nearly whimpered at how it felt.

"David! Get out of the shower! You're always in there for so bloody long!" He heard Gabrielle shout from the other side of the door and he immediately let go of himself. He couldn't have a bloody wank when his sister was on the other side of the door. Not that it mattered, he had heard his family and his poor friend was already deflating.

"I'm getting out, stop shouting, you'll wake the kids." He hit his head softly on the wall before turning off the shower. He dried himself quickly and pulled on some boxers and a shirt before glancing at the mirror. He wasn't vain but he hadn't had a spot in his life and so if he saw the beginnings of one he made sure to get rid of it before it became a proper spot.

He noticed he really needed a shave, at eighteen years old he was built fairly well although he didn't really do any exercise except running after the kids all day. He was tall at six foot two. Of course David didn't consider himself good looking but he was; with his blue eyes and shaggy brown hair. His jaw was sharp and a lot of girls practically swooned at the sight of him. He stayed oblivious to it all though.

He went back to his room that he was sharing with Lukas and flopped down on the bed with a sigh.

"David?" Lukas' uncertain voice called in the dark.

"Yeah?"

"Did the Headmistress ask where our parents are?"

There was a pause.

"Yeah."

"What did you say?"

David sighed and turned on his side to face Lukas' bed. "Just that mum died giving birth and we didn't know where dad was. I didn't say anything else about dad. Do you not want people to know?"

"People might take the piss out of us."

"We'll look out for each other. And watch the language." David said with determination.

Later on that night David was awoken by the sound of Keira.

"Daddy," her voice was a little whiny, she was obviously tired. David sat up and picked up Keira and then lay back down again.

"No, just David." He said with a sigh. He felt her little head shaking – saying no. He felt the tears burn at his eyes but he shook his head and silently told himself to man-up. His last thought however was that he was leaving his little sister for a long time and he couldn't swallow the guilt of that.

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**Please Review!**

**LLF**


	2. Chapter 2

David held Keira tight to his chest as she snoozed whilst they were in Diagon Alley getting school supplies. He had tried to explain the situation to her and the other children who wouldn't be going to Hogwarts but of course Keira didn't really understand how long he'd be gone for. He wasn't sure how she would be without him there.

With a sigh he hurried the kids to the old till in Flourish and Blotts. He couldn't believe how much money he had spent today; he had bought the kids going to Hogwarts their uniforms and he felt like he had bought about a billion different sizes and shapes of robes. He had also had to buy the kids dragon hide gloves. All the kids were taking potions as well so every one of them needed the basic potions ingredients, they still had cauldrons from their old schools, _thank Merlin_, he thought.

Of course Samantha needed everything new since this was her first year, she had been so excited getting her wand and David had tried to not let his enthusiasm dip for her when he saw the price. His wand had definitely not cost that much, but she was a powerful kid and any old wand wouldn't have harnessed her magic right. Ollivander had seen the way David's eyes had practically popped out of his head and offered it at a galleon less.

These books were the second to last things he had to get. He wanted to get Samantha a cat. The other kids each had an animal – although Craig and Leo shared an extremely large toad. He had his tiny little cat – it was cross-breaded with something but no one was able to tell him what with. Gabrielle had her fat owl and Lukas had his owl too. He knew he was probably causing himself more trouble but he couldn't deny her an animal.

"Right kids put your books on the counter." He said loudly and they did. He tried to ignore the fact there was a lot of books. "Did you all tick everything off your lists? Because if you've forgotten something I can't do anything about it."

"I need a broom! Mine's buggered." David bit his lip as Gabrielle whined. The kids were all avid Quidditch followers and Gabrielle had played it since she was thirteen. So maybe this was the third to last place they would be going to.

"I meant the books but we can go and get you a broom, I've seen the state of yours and it's bloody awful." He smiled at the manager who stared at him opened mouthed until he shook himself and then started to add up the mass of books. "Also, Gab you're on bath and bed duty tonight." She groaned loudly but didn't protest. The younger kids were at home with Lucy but David wanted as much time as possible with Keira before he left. He shouldn't have a favourite brother or sister but Keira depended on him a lot more than the others. She was practically his daughter – he had done everything for her so far.

He paid for the books and they went into Quality Quidditch Supplies and Gabrielle put a little bit of her money towards a new Cleansweep. She didn't have much money and he knew she liked to buy birthday and Christmas presents for the family herself – and hopefully she'll make some friends for her to buy presents for, he thought.

Finally he took the kids and Samantha for her to pick a cat. She ended up choosing a black cat that had a white patch around its left eye.

"Are you sure you want this cat, Sam? It looks a bit… temperamental." Lukas said as Gabrielle glared at the cat because of the now bleeding mark on her hand.

"Yes! David, please!" She stared up at him with her big doe eyes and David found himself saying yes.

When they got home it was rather late. Lucy had made some food ready for their late return and they all tucked in readily before Gabrielle and David bathed the kids and then put them to bed. He didn't even bother putting Keira in her bed that night. She was being clingy and only finally went to sleep when they were in his bed and he had sung softly to her.

Lukas had given him a look of sympathy before just going to bed without a word.

David had decided to throw a birthday party for Lucy. Her birthday being right at the end of August was always a pain in the arse actually.

His mother had been brilliant with birthday parties before she passed away… well she had been brilliant until she found out that she was giving birth to magical children. He remembered quite clearly that he was actually the first to show magical ability.

He had been six years old, the first set of Twins had just come along and he had been looking at them when they were asleep. His mother was holding him on her hip –although really he was too big for that sort of thing but she had always been overly affectionate – as she looked at them too. He remembered seeing the rattle in Leo's hand and his mother had said something about them not sleeping with it because they might hurt themselves on it and he immediately thought that they shouldn't have it. He was always a play-by-the-rules kind of kid. He was just thinking about reaching for it but as soon as his hand moved, the rattle just flew into his hand. He had stared at it for a moment before smiling triumphantly up at his mother.

His mother however wasn't impressed.

"How did you do that?" She shrieked, putting him down on the floor roughly. "You're a bad child!" She started yelling and David remembered the tears coming to his eyes. She didn't even care that Craig and Leo had woken up and were crying. "You never do that again!" She snatched the rattle from his little hands before giving it back to Leo. She cooed down at them before turning back to David. "_Get out!_" She shrieked again at him. He had run out before crashing into his father.

"Stupid kid." He had grunted before walking off and taking another swig of the ever existent beer can in his hand.

Lucy had been amazed at the magic and she had told him about the amazing wizards that she thought only existed in her fiction books. But they soon realized it was so different than her books.

They practiced in secret. He kept trying to do what he did before and Lucy just tried to do something, anything. They were so desperate for it. So desperate for something different in their lives.

They had been in the kitchen and their mother and father had been screaming at each other for hours and Lucy had been holding strong against the tears. David had as well but Lucy always snapped first and that day had been no different.

She suddenly banged her fist on the table and screamed and every cupboard door flung open and the plates inside went flying out too, they crashed onto the walls and every single breakable item in the kitchen had broken in the same manner.

His mother had come into the room and blamed him but Lucy had screamed that it was her. His father had demanded to know what was happening.

That night they had snuck downstairs and listened as their mother explained the Wizarding world to their father. She had described it as something bad but everything they heard just made it sound better.

Once that happened every kid started showing magic ability. He didn't really understand why his mother kept having kids until he was a bit older. He knew his father was Catholic and had converted his mother, she had however said she wanted that sort of decision left to the kids when they were older so they were never brought into the religion. He understood now that Catholic's don't use contraception and he had heard his parents going at it way too many times. That, however, is something he will never be able to understand. His father was an idiot and he was surprised his mother let him anywhere near her.

But his mother had always done amazing birthday parties for them all and bought them all gifts to give to whoever's birthday it was but she only did it with the kids before they eventually showed their magical ability. She was really bitter about it all.

So as soon as it was possible David got a summer job – he was already at a magic school and that ruled out any other time for a job. He and Lucy had provided the kids with all the sort of stuff normal kids do have like birthday parties. But Lucy's birthday was right before school and he always set aside the money for her right at the beginning of the holidays because the rest of it was used to buy him and the kids better stuff for school. His mother didn't deny them the stuff but it was never the good equipment and books. It was normally second hand or from the really bad shops.

But this year he wanted to do something brilliant for her and if it doubled as a leaving party for them all that was just a plus.

David had decided that at the birthday party it would only be the family, Lucy's close friends and Horven's family. Most of Horven's family had actually been murdered in the second war but his mother and sister were still around, even if his mother was slightly insane. She was funny though.

Horven had taken her and their two kids to a birthday lunch so the rest of them could get the house ready and welcome the small amount of guests. One of the guests had been following him around. He knew she was a friend of Lucy's but he couldn't remember her name. He actually felt quite guilty.

"So I was like that is never going to happen." She twirled a blonde lock of her hair around her finger, "He was rich and everything but I know I could do so much better." She suddenly dropped her hair and ran a finger down David's chest. He tried not to look as uncomfortable as he felt.

"I really need to go find… something." He rubbed the back of his neck.

David definitely ran away as he moved over to pick up Keira, and under his breath he muttered something about 'you're also creeping me out' and then ran off. He didn't see the woman huffing and stomping her foot.

When Lucy arrived they all shouted _surprise_ and Keira shouted it about fifteen times because she was amazed at the new word she had learnt.

The party had been a success, Lucy was ecstatic with it and she had been so obviously grateful to David that he had even blushed a little bit.


	3. Chapter 3

Today was the day.

Hogwarts.

Keira knew what was happening. She wouldn't stop crying. She also wouldn't let go of David.

They were stood on the platform; the younger kids were staring up in awe at the train. Tammy kept asking if they could go with them.

"Keira, I've got to go." He whispered to the crying child. She just clutched his shirt tighter.

Eventually Lucy stepped forward and successfully took Keira from David. She started screaming and reaching out for him but all he could bring himself to do as to kiss her head and usher the others onto the train.

"Be good," he said as he gave the triplets a hug goodbye. He then gave the youngest twins a hug as well before turning back to Lucy and Keira.

His mind was blank. He had nothing to say; or rather he had too much to say. He stared at Lucy who stared right back.

"You're doing the right thing." She said seeming to sense the direction of his thoughts. "They are my brothers and sisters too and I'm older than you. It's time for me to pull my weight whilst you go be a teenager for once." He was going to give her hug but Keira would just latch onto him again and he couldn't say goodbye again. He simply nodded and stepped onto the train without looking back.

The kids had found a compartment and had put their stuff away. The girls and Lukas sat one side and the Twins on the other. David joined the Twins with a tense smile.

"They'll be fine." Gabrielle said suddenly.

"Yeah," He couldn't bring himself to say anything else.

The train lurched forward and in the corner of his eye he saw the kids waving out the window.

He nearly didn't look but he knew it would break his heart if the last thing Keira saw was the back of his head.

She had stopped crying but she looked like she would start any second. Her little hand waved sadly and she stuck out her bottom lip when David waved back.

He felt a bit better at that but he still couldn't push down the guilt completely.

About an hour into the journey the compartment door opened.

"You must be the Knights's." A girl – well woman really – with curly brown hair said with a smile. David recognised her immediately; every witch and wizard knew this woman.

She was quite beautiful in real life. She was already in her Hogwarts uniform and it was quite loose fitting but there was an obvious show of curves. Her hair fell in large curls – he was sure he had heard Gabrielle chatting about an article where the woman's hair stylist had revealed the challenge of taming her once bushy hair. She didn't appear to be wearing any make-up but David wasn't exactly an expert.

"You're Hermione Granger!" Gabrielle called out, she held up her copy of _Witch Weekly_ where there was a picture of her, Ron Weasley and Harry Potter in a Muggle café.

David watched as Hermione Granger became uncomfortable. She rubbed the back of her neck and he could see she was forcing a smile, this was a woman who didn't like being in the spotlight.

"Put down the magazine, Gab." David groaned. When the magazine had been put away Hermione Granger seemed to be a bit more comfortable.

"Well as you know, apparently, I'm Hermione and I'm Head Girl this year. Professor McGonagall asked me to make sure you guys are okay." She looked around the compartment before her eyes landed on Samantha. "Are you Samantha?" She asked attentively. Samantha nodded. She was a shy kid. "When the train stops you can go ahead with the other first years but the rest of you have to come along with me so I make sure you get to the right place." She smiled at everyone in the compartment before her eyes rested on David. He tried to smile. "Professor McGonagall said you didn't take your last year."

"Yeah, some stuff at home stopped me." He didn't smile this time but it didn't stop her.

"Good," she grinned, "I won't be the only seventh year that's a year older than the rest."

"No others are repeating their year?" He couldn't help but ask.

"There's some, mostly muggleborns but they all look at me weird now. As if we haven't all known each other since we were eleven years old." She smiled shyly before shaking her head. "Anyway I'll come find you guys before we get to Hogwarts. Samantha you should go find some other first years so you know someone to get a boat with." She glanced around again before resting her eyes on David, "See you in a few hours." And with that she bounced right out.

"She seemed nice." David smiled to himself.

"You fancy her!" Leo said in a sing song voice. All the kids start to make cooing noises and a couple of them made kissing faces. Even Craig and Samantha who were the most studious joined in.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Whatever." David said over the top of them all and they all laughed but didn't continue their teasing.

Samantha eventually worked up the courage to go make friends and when David went to the toilet he saw her sat in a compartment with another girl and two boys who seemed to be her age.

Hermione came back about half an hour before they got to Hogwarts; David had actually been half asleep. Stuck in that lovely place between being asleep and actually being slightly aware of what's happening around him. Of course when the train lurched and Hermione fell on him he woke up pretty sharpish. She wasn't heavy or anything but she _had_ fallen on him and then he _did_ hit his head pretty hard on the compartment wall because it had scared the crap out of him.

"Merlin! I'm so sorry." He smiled weakly whilst she flushed with embarrassment.

"It's okay." He rubbed the sore spot on the back of his head.

"I just thought I'd come and join you guys for the last bit of the journey, if that's okay?" She stood awkwardly in the doorway fidgeting with her hands.

"Of course! Take a seat." David motioned across from him where Samantha and been sitting before.

Gabrielle gave her a cautious look before going back to her magazine, she obviously wasn't interested in getting to know her but David couldn't think of a reason why. Leo stared openly at her and David realised that Leo was probably getting his first crush on a real woman, he couldn't help but grin a little at that. Craig was reading – as usual – and gave Hermione a smile before going back to his book, Lukas was stealing glances at Hermione in his own subtle way and David smiled again at that.

"So, why did you choose to take the year?" David asked her softly and she looked back at him with a confused expression. "I heard that most places were offering jobs to anyone who took part in the Battle of Hogwarts even without any NEWT's. People on the right side of course." He paused with a very small smile, "I'm guessing you weren't the one person from the whole of the battle who happened to have a great part in the fall of Voldemort that didn't get any job offers?" He didn't know if she'd take the comment as the joke it was supposed to be or if she'd take it badly.

He needn't have worried though as he saw the corner of her mouth twitch up into a smile. "No," she said slowly, "I did have job offers, a lot of job offers actually and I did seriously consider just going to work but I knew that I'd never feel right taking a job that I didn't really have the qualifications for."

"Didn't the ministry set up NEWT tests during the summer?" David frowned, he felt like he was drilling the questions at her but he was just interested.

"Yes," she said it slowly again, "and loads of people did go for them but like you I didn't even start my last year." Realisation dawned on him. He knew that she didn't do her last year and yet his brain had seemed to hold back that information and make him look like a total idiot.

"Sorry," he groaned, "I knew that, I must have read it a billion times in the last few weeks." He closed his eyes with a sigh before opening them to see her smile at him.

"It's fine." She said softly.

For the rest of the journey they chatted about unimportant things, it was small talk really but David didn't want to make a plank out of himself again. Him and the kids changed into their new uniforms after a little while but then went back to talking. Hermione did mention that there were quite a few students that were new but not first years.

"None of them our age?" He asked a bit shocked. He knew plenty of people who hadn't finished their last year from his old school.

She shook her head and David frowned, "shouldn't you be helping the other new people as well? I'd hate to think there's going to be a group of very confused new comers walking around Hogwarts." He smiled slightly.

"No," she grinned, "the other prefects have been assigned people to look after but you guys were the biggest family coming plus we're the same age, I guess Professor McGonagall thought it'd help us both. I'd say she was right."

The train began to slow down and they all looked out of the window as the scenery began to change from fields to a smattering of house and then to a small village. They finally came to a stop at an old fashioned train station and everyone began to grab their things and excitedly disembarked the train.

"Come on," Hermione was excited too. "I haven't seen the castle since the Battle; it's amazing how quickly they re-built it." They found Samantha who was extremely happy about her new friends but she hurried off to the boats as a great big man shouted for first years to follow him. "Hagrid!" Hermione suddenly called to the man.

The man – Hagrid – suddenly laughed loudly and came almost running towards them. Hermione seemed to be okay with it but David couldn't help but be terrified just a little bit by just the size of this man.

Hermione was suddenly picked up by giant arms and lifted high into the air but all she did was giggle. David glanced at his siblings as they all gaped open-mouthed at the scene.

Once Hermione had been put down she turned back towards them all. "Hagrid I'd like you to meet my new friends." She gestured towards them and tugged onto Hagrid's hand. She introduced each one of them and said that Samantha should be near the boats. "You'll be seeing some of them in your classes." She grinned up at him.

"Looking forward to it!" He patted Hermione on the back and she tried not to fall over before he went back to calling the first years.

When they got to the carriages David tried to ignore the skeleton horse thing attached the front of the carriage but Gabrielle gasped out loud.

"What on earth are those?" She recoiled slightly when it turned its head towards her.

"What?" Lukas raised an eyebrow at her.

"I don't see anything." Leo glanced around.

"Me neither." Craig chipped in.

"They're thestrals. Only people who have seen death can see them." Hermione placed her hand on Gabrielle's shoulder who shrugged it off and climbed into the carriage. Craig and Leo got in after her but not before shooting a look at David.

"So you can see them?" Lukas asked quietly.

"You know I can." He slightly pushed him towards the carriage and Lukas got on silently. Hermione looked curious but David wasn't about to go blabbing about his family stuff to a stranger.

She got on the carriage after him and sat opposite him. He tried to smile but he knew it probably came out as a demented grimace.

As they approached the castle they all looked up in awe. Hermione even stared with them.

"Does it look different?" He asked her suddenly and she jumped a little at the sound.

"No, it looks just like it should." She smiled and then glanced back at the castle, "feels different though."

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**I know what you must be thinking, 'Hermione is finally in the story!'**

**I wanted to make sure you met all of David's family and got an idea of his backstory before I started introducing Hogwarts and Hermione. But there it is. She's arrived.**

**How do you think David and Hermione will get along? Review!**


	4. Chapter 4

They all stood at the front of the Great Hall. His family, many other students, Hermione and the head boy – a Slytherin who had managed to stay on the right side during the war – stood proudly with the Headmistress.

"And now we have many new students to sort. I was almost convinced to get rid of the houses because of the kind of rivalries it produces but it has been a foundation of Hogwarts ever since its creation." She gave a smile to the students, "I would only like to see rivalries this year in house points and Quidditch. Do not make me regret my decision. Now I would like to introduce our Head boy and girl. Tobias Wing." There was a polite applause where many Slytherin's made noises of appreciation. "And Hermione Granger." The whole hall erupted into shouts and few boys cat called. Everyone seemed to love that she had been made Head Girl. Even the Slytherin's.

"Calm down." The Headmistress rolled her eyes but there was a small smirk forming on her lips that told the world how she really felt. As the hall silenced the Headmistress called upon the Appleson sisters to be sorted. The two sisters were incredibly different. One of the sisters, in her second year, had long curly brown hair that matched her dark skin, the other sister had very short platinum blonde hair and was pale skinned, she looked way older than a fourth year but she was introduced as a fourth year by the Headmistress. Both went into Slytherin.

There was about thirty various different people being sorted, most of them were related to someone else getting sorted. There was the odd lone person but the biggest family being sorted was David's. Although all David could think was that _they only know the half of it, literally._

"The Knight's please." Five of the Radison family stepped forward.

David glanced back at the doors of the Great Hall. Hermione had said the first years would be coming through them once the rest of them had been sorted. He missed the rest of his family and even not having Samantha being sorted with the rest of the family felt odd.

As the five of them stood there quite proud, the hall murmured unheard comments about them all. They were a good looking bunch; all of them had thick brown hair and bright blue eyes.

"Start with the youngest." The Headmistress said with a smile as Craig and Leo looked at each other before Leo grinned and muttered something about being twenty minutes older, nudging his twin as he went past. He sat down on the stool and the Headmistress settled the hat on his head. After about half a minute and a dubious look from Leo, the hat shouted out, "Hufflepuff!"

The hall clapped and the Hufflepuff table did a couple of whistles as each of the houses had done for every new person that was sorted.

Next Craig went up and after only a few seconds the hat shouted, "Ravenclaw!" And David patted Craig's back as he went past.

Lukas looked very nervous as the Headmistress called him up but with a nod of the head from David he walked confidently up to the stool. Lukas was up there for a full three minutes with a frown on his face before the hat shouted in an oddly malicious way, "Gryffindor!" And Lukas walked to the table with slightly shaky legs but heartened by David's smile.

Gabrielle practically sashayed to the stool. She obviously loved the attention. _Like usual._ David thought. He would have to look out for her this year. He knew she liked to go out with boys and flirt a lot but he didn't want anyone getting the wrong idea about one of his baby sisters.

The hat sat upon her head a mere ten seconds before it confidently shouted, "Slytherin."

She smirked and made her way down to the Slytherin table. David rolled his eyes as she eyed up a guy who in David's opinion was way too old for her.

Then David was sitting on the stool and the hat was on his head.

"_Hmm… selfless. Truly the most selfless mind I have ever been in."_ The hat hummed thoughtfully. _"I know where to put you but before I do I give you word of advice. Selfishness is not necessarily bad. So don't feel guilty about that little girl of yours when you're having a good time this year."_ There was a moment of silence where David supposed that he should be arguing back but when the hat received no reply, not even a muttering about how Keira wasn't his daughter he said loudly into the hall, "Gryffindor."

David walked to the Gryffindor table in a daze. He didn't really hear the cheers and the loud whistle from Hermione. He was thinking about how the hat hadn't been the first person to tell him to live a bit selfishly. But how could he when there was still half a family at his sister's home. He didn't even have a place to call a home for him and the kids. It was his _sister's_ home.

He shook his head as he sat down next Lukas. It was no surprise they had been put in the same house. They were very similar. Both were very independent and liked to help others. Lukas however was still young and got lost in the pack of kids. It was something that David had always felt guilty about and he struggled to make time for him, but somehow he always settled down at some point in the week to play Wizarding chess with him. Most of the time Keira was there so they didn't get to talk about much adult stuff in case she picked up on any of it.

_She's not going to be there for a while now. You can talk about whatever you want._ He thought solemnly.

After the final person was sorted – a sixth year Hufflepuff – the first years entered. David was shocked at how settled everyone in the hall was. No one showed any signs of boredom, no one started fidgeting or got restless. He imagined that everyone was just so glad to be back and to have this chance to be alive that it would be ridiculous to ruin it.

Everyone sat patiently through the second sorting until finally the Headmistress let the feast begin.

David watched as all the tables suddenly filled with the most delicious food he had ever seen. He felt himself drool slightly at the sight before Hermione sat down next to him.

"It's amazing, isn't it?" She beamed up at him before grabbing some food. David promptly shut his mouth with an audible snap and nudged Lukas who was grinning at him.

"Who makes it all?" He moaned around his first forkful of food. Hermione smiled back at him and David nearly choked on his food.

"House Elves." He watched as she rolled her eyes. He tried not to raise an eyebrow but he was mystified by this girl.

Later that night Hermione showed David his room that he shared with the other seventh years. "You probably would have been given your own room since you're older but it's easier for you to make friends this way." Hermione smiled at him as she sat on his bed. He tried to not be distracted by that. He was unpacking his things the Muggle way whilst chatting to Hermione.

"_You've_ got your own room." He smirked at her.

"Yeah, well, I know everyone already." She crossed her arms and lifted her nose into the air making David laugh. Gods, she was gorgeous. He didn't get chances to flirt and just be silly, this was a welcomed change.

If only he had the rest of his family here to enjoy these changes with.

"You don't know _me_." He tried to be a bit cheeky.

He heard Hermione say very quietly, "we can change that."

The first day of school was an odd one.

Hermione seemed to have nearly the exact same subjects as him except she took two more class than him; Ancient Runes and History of Magic. He didn't have a need for either of them so chose not to take them. They had both decided against taking Divination as they both complained it was absolute nonsense. Although Hermione had reasoned that the centaur Firenze seemed to know what he was talking about compared to Trelawney, despite her not having a lesson with him before.

They both took Astronomy, Charms, Defence Against the Dark Arts, Herbology, Potions, Transfiguration, Arithmancy and Care of Magical Creatures. He had thought he had taken on a lot of work with eight subjects but he was in awe of Hermione balancing ten subjects. And she was doing it amazingly well. Despite Hermione not taking Care of Magical Creatures in her sixth year, she insisted that she had already caught up on everything she would need to know.

He barely saw his siblings that day because of how crazy it was.

On the first day of lessons Hermione and him had had the same classes. Potions being first. Slughorn seemed to be an intelligent man but he was definitely all out for himself. He had bounced around the room getting them to make a basic potion but from the bare instructions meaning that they had to think for themselves. David had given himself a pat on the back after that lesson simply because it had been a year since he had even been near a cauldron and he had managed to get the potion done with minor issue.

Hermione had however stopped him from putting some Snake Venom into the brew too early. He had no idea what would have happened if he had put it in but he was glad he hadn't had the chance to find out.

Their Care of Magical Creatures double lesson had been cut short an hour early when the group of merpeople decided that they had got bored of being studied and started splashing them. They all got absolutely soaked and David didn't stop shivering until he was in bed that night.

After their Herbology lesson they had sat down at the Gryffindor table and David had nearly fallen asleep.

"Tired?" Hermione laughed as he slumped over a bowl of soup he was having for lunch.

"Hmmm, I forgot how tiring it is fighting with plants." They both smiled at each other.

After about five minutes Hermione nudged him and pointed to Gabrielle chatting with some blonde bloke from Slytherin.

"She's a bit of a flirt some times." He grimaced.

"That's Draco Malfoy she's chatting to." Hermione smirked. David looked up in confusion.

"Malfoy." He said thoughtfully. Then suddenly he realised who he was looking at. "Malfoy!" He hissed to Hermione. "As in the Death Eater?"

"I didn't realise you'd react like that." She chewed thoughtfully on a sandwich.

"How else am I supposed to act? He was a Death Eater. His whole family was." He put the spoon down as he stood up. "I'm going to go get her." _Surely his sister knew who she was talking to. For Merlin's sake. A Death Eater?_

Suddenly he felt a hand tug at his sleeve. He looked down as Hermione attempted to pull him back.

"Sit down." She hissed. He looked up at his sister one more time before sitting back down next to Hermione. "He was forced." She looked him in the eye as she spoke and he tried not to forget what they were talking about. "Have you not heard about it? It was in the Daily Prophet."

"Load of rubbish." He mumbled.

Hermione smirked. "I agree, but they did print the truth about the war in the end. Draco was forced into to taking the Dark Mark. But he used to slip Severus Snape information when he could. And he helped us at least a dozen times. He's still a Slytherin though. He wasn't going to outright defy Voldemort. He didn't want to get himself or his family killed. But his family was found innocent under the grounds that they did eventually fight for the right side and they've been helping the Auror's find rogue Death Eaters." He became aware that Hermione's hand had moved from his sleeve and was holding his own. He glanced down at their joint hands and he squeezed.

"So, _you_ trust him?"

"I saw him when he was under interrogation using Veritaserum and he was completely sorry. He actually said sorry to me for calling me names." She smiled slightly then. "He said that he felt guilty for calling me a mudblood in second year. I don't even care about that anymore. So, yes, I _have_ to trust him."

He looked down to their hands again and simply nodded.

"What's going on here then?" Leo's voice cut through their perfect little bubble as he stood, arm crossed, looking at them.

They both suddenly pulled apart as if shocked and Hermione blushed prettily as she suddenly became very interested in her food.

David glared at his brother as he just grinned at them.

"You're an arse." David said bluntly. Leo just grinned even more.

"I love you too, big brother." He laughed and then walked over to the Hufflepuff table to what David assumed was some new friends.

Hermione and he sat in an awkward silence until their next lesson.

After dinner Hermione showed David to the boys shower room and left with a blush on her face after saying something about him enjoying his shower.

He would have thought that that would have been prime time to get himself off as the shower stalls were completely private from each other but he could hear the other lads joking and talking so he washed quickly and went to bed.

He laid back in bed that night wondering if Keira was able to sleep.

* * *

**I was going to do an upload every Wednesday which will eventually be the norm, however I have entered the dreaded realm of EXAM TIME.**

**Don't panic though! I am nearly done. Just one last assignment to hand in by the end of next week and this year of university is done.**

**Of course then I get to enter the realm of 'working through the summer' so I'm not sure I'm ready for it to be over yet. We'll see how it pans out.**

**Anyway my next update will probably be Friday, if someone would like to remind me, that would be great.**

**Are we feeling sorry for David? Just a bit? Review!**


	5. Chapter 5

David had had crushes on quite a few girls since he had started puberty. He found that he really wanted to be in a relationship. Even when he was 13 and didn't understand girls. And now that he was 18 and still not understanding girls he found the idea of a relationship completely ungraspable but yet he wanted it so badly.

Spending all his time with Hermione Granger was slowly but surely killing him and he loved it. She was so adorable and yet so undeniably sexy at the same time. He didn't know how she had managed to do it but he was already wrapped around her little finger. And he was pretty sure she was completely unaware of it.

Over the last two weeks he had thought about her all the time. When Lukas and he had played Wizarding chess, he had lost three times in a row because he kept getting distracted thinking about her. And then when Lukas demanded to know why he was letting him win David hadn't known what to say.

"I'm not _letting_ you win. I'm just… distracted." He mumbled. He picked up the pieces and set them up again. The Common room was oddly quiet and Hermione was in the library so he didn't have the physical distraction of her. She was just playing on his mind. A lot.

"Distracted?" Lukas sounded shocked. There was a moment of silence. "Are you distracted by a certain person, by any of a chance?" He asked quietly.

David felt his head pop up. "What's that supposed to mean?" He glared at his brother.

"Nothing." Lukas smiled shyly. "Although you and Hermione do spend quite a lot of time together. You're practically attached at the hip."

"Yeah, and?" David knew it was obvious. He practically ran after her like a little puppy. She probably hated him and just put up with him because he would do anything for her.

_Don't be ridiculous. She's a war heroine. She's not a bad person._

He sighed. Lukas just looked at him with one eyebrow raised. "Why are you so clever?" David mumbled and slumped over the table, knocking some pieces off the board.

"Well, you and Lucy taught me a lot when I was little so I caught on quickly." He smirked back at David before rolling his eyes. "We're brothers. I know everything about you. I can tell when you like someone." He shrugged his shoulders.

"Am I a bad person?" David asked suddenly.

"Why would you be a bad person?" Lukas slowly asked.

"Because," David huffed, "even if by some miracle Hermione liked me back and we started something up I couldn't keep it going after this year."

"What? Why?"

"Because there are six more kids waiting for me to find a home for them and look after them. I couldn't give Hermione anything."

"I don't think Hermione is the sort to want anything." Lukas looked a lot older in those few moments. "And I think you're thinking a little too far ahead. You should be enjoying this. Why can't you just be selfish for once?"

David said nothing in reply.

David was sat in the library on the 18th of September with Samantha and Craig. They were all working on homework when Hermione flung herself down in the spare chair.

"You okay?" David asked. He looked down at his work as if he was actually paying any attention to it.

"Yes," she sighed loudly, "I never knew how much work being Head Girl would be. The amount of squabbles I've had to sort out is just ridiculous. And if I see another couple snogging I'm actually going to-" She stopped abruptly and looked at the younger ones who were staring up at her. She then slowly looked to David and they both suddenly looked away, their faces bright red.

_Hermione said snogging._ David's mind went into overdrive with images that included Hermione and himself and some definite snogging.

He swallowed loudly and stared unseeingly at his parchment.

"David?" Samantha's quiet voice broke through his ridiculous thoughts.

"Yeah?" He looked at Samantha.

"Could you read this?" She handed him an essay and he read it as carefully as he could. She was so clever.

"That's brilliant. Just watch your handwriting. It gets a bit too small at the end."

"I still had a lot to say, I just wanted to get it all in." He grinned at her and she smiled shyly. "Craig and me are going to go get some dinner. Are you coming?" Samantha started to meticulously pack away her things as did Craig.

"Give me ten minutes." He smiled and they smiled back before leaving.

"They're really good kids." Hermione leaned back in her chair.

"Yeah, they do make my life pretty easy." He smirked and started to pack away his things.

"Can you help me get some books?" She smiled and they both got up. David followed Hermione around the library as she collected the books she needed. David, being a gentleman, took the books and held them for her. "Can I ask you question?" She said it so quietly David wasn't sure she had said it at first.

"Of course. Ask away."

"I know we haven't known each other very long but I've noticed that you never talk about your parents. Did something happen to them?" She didn't meet his eyes when she asked and David was glad.

David froze. He didn't quite know what to say. He didn't really know what to think. What was he supposed to tell this woman? There was so much to it and he didn't want to talk or think about any of it.

He could feel his jaw clenching as he thought about what to say.

"Forget it!" Hermione interrupted his struggle. "I'm sorry; I didn't mean to upset you. Merlin, I'm stupid." She attempted to take the books of him but he stumbled back holding onto them tightly.

"No!" He clutched at the books and then shook his head. "Sorry, I just don't talk about my parents and I wasn't expecting you to ask and it shocked me and I don't know what to say." He leaned heavily on a bookcase and closed his eyes.

"I shouldn't have asked." She copied his pose and leaned against the same bookcase, facing him. She waited until he opened his eyes again before speaking. "Fancy forgetting it ever happened?" She smiled softly.

David nodded. "It's not that I don't want to tell you, it's just that we haven't known each other very long and I wouldn't know how to tell you."

Hermione smiled softly again before suddenly getting a cheeky look on her face. "Now that that didn't happen, are you going to carry my last book? Or am I actually going to have to do some work?"

The next day David and Hermione sat in the Great Hall eating tea when a blonde girl sat down next to David. He had seen this girl talking to Hermione before, she always had a dreamy smile on her face whenever David had seen her.

Today for some reason she had decided to sit with him and Hermione.

"Hello Hermione," she sighed in her dreamy way.

"Hello Luna." Hermione grinned back at her.

"I got you this," Luna produced a box that was charmed somehow to glow from gold to red, "for your birthday. I don't really celebrate birthdays because Daddy says they're an unnecessary social convention but he also says that I should respect that other people do celebrate birthdays." She looked puzzled for a second before thrusting the package at Hermione. "So, Happy Birthday."

David suddenly felt his jaw drop as he stared at the glowing present.

It was Hermione's birthday? As in _Hermione_? As in the girl he had spent the last 19 days with?

And he didn't know it was her birthday! He fancied her, for Merlin's sake and now they wouldn't even celebrate the first birthday that he had known her for.

_But realistically,_ he thought,_ why would she tell someone that she had only known for 19 days?_

It's not like they were dating. _At all,_ his mind added bitterly. They were barely friends. But of course it didn't stop the feeling of guilt welling up inside of him.

He watched with what he imagined was a horrified face as Hermione undid the box.

Hermione seemed cautious as she began to open it. She brought out what looked like a tiny replica of a muggle metal detector but it had metal spoons attached to the wide round bit at the end.

"It's a _Blibbering Humdinger_ detector and when you press the blue button if you're close enough to one it'll explode. And if you're detecting one you should definitely make it explode because they _are_ dangerous," Luna suddenly looked very serious and she frowned slightly before looking up at Hermione with a small smile, "and I would hate anything to happen to you because you're one of the few friends I have. And plus you really do deserve a chance at happiness after everything." She waved vaguely.

"Oh Luna." Hermione smiled. David could see she was on the verge of tears. "Thank you. You're such a good friend." She suddenly reached over the table and took the blonde's hand who looked very happy, even back in her dreamy state.

"Did Ginny get you anything?"

"Oh… No, she still isn't talking to me." Luna and Hermione shared a knowing but sad look.

Who is Ginny?

"I'm sure she'll come around, I had best get back to my table. They get overwhelmed with _Wrackspurts_ when I'm not there." She smiled before abruptly standing and running off to the Ravenclaw table.

"So it's your birthday?" David tried to play it casual. He didn't want to come across as the crazy infatuated teen he was.

"Yep." She popped the 'p'. She looked more casual about it than David supposed he did.

"I didn't see any presents or cards arrive this morning."

"All my post is checked first because I receive a lot of dangerous packages from on-the-run Death Eaters. It'll all be waiting in my room when I go to bed.

David tried to fight down the shout that was threatening to escape. Why was she so casual about this stuff?

"Okay." He shrugged. "Happy Birthday then."

Later that night they were sat in the Common room together. David was pretending to read his book whilst Hermione was actually reading hers. Most of the students had gone to bed already but neither of them had mentioned sleep yet despite the fact they were both constantly yawning.

David didn't want to go to bed yet. He could feel Hermione's thigh press against his own and it was all warm and he wanted to put his hand on it. It didn't help that he was trying to work up the courage to say something else about her birthday.

"Are you okay?" Hermione's soft voice broke through his troubled thoughts.

"Yeah." He nodded then paused. "No." He shook his head. "Why didn't you tell me it was your birthday?" He pushed his book to the side and folded his arms like a petulant child. He knew he must look ridiculous but he couldn't help it.

"Is that what you're all het up about?" Hermione laughed. "Oh David," she put her hand on his forearm and David fought down the urge to flex his arm because of it, "I didn't tell you because we barely know each other. Why are you even bothered? You can't care that much, we've only known each other for a little while."

"Well I do care." He huffed loudly and hoped she didn't notice his lack of reasoning.

He stared straight into the glowing fire of the common room whilst Hermione sat silently for a moment. Her hand still rubbed up and down his forearm and he desperately wanted to look at her but for some reason stood his ground. Figuratively, of course. He was sat down after all.

"How can I make it up to you then?" Her tone was teasing and it caught David off guard. He let his arms slip and he turned toward her.

_How could she make it up to him?_

His mind was suddenly filled with naughty images and he had to try to keep his facial expression neutral.

"You could let me give you a birthday present."

"Do you keep random birthday presents on hand for situations just like this?" She smirked and took his hand.

"Well no. But I'm sure I'll think of something." There was a pause.

"Like?" She teased.

"Give me a minute." He furrowed his brow. He couldn't think of anything suitable or easy to get. To be honest he couldn't really think of anything at all.

"Got any ideas yet?"

"Shh, woman! You're so pushy." He grinned at her.

And then suddenly he decided what he could give her. It would make her think of him as more of a boyfriend than just a friend.

"Okay. I know." He turned and grasped one side of Hermione's face. It was so soft.

He was getting distracted already. He turned her head to the side a little and then gently kissed her cheek. He lingered for a second before pulling away a little bit.

"Happy Birthday, Hermione."

* * *

**If you get email updates then I apologise for the pretend update. I realised I hadn't put an AN! **

**I just wanted to let you know that over the next week or so I'll be moving back home for the summer and that means a lot of annoying packing. I'm going to try and update again next Wednesday but we'll see how crazy it all gets.**

**As well as that, I'm going to the Harry Potter Studio Tour. Again. So in the midst of the packing I'll be going to the Studio Tour, I don't know why I thought this was an appropriate time to go again.**

**Anyway, what do we think of the relationship progress? It's slowly but surely moving on! Review!**


	6. Chapter 6

For the next couple of weeks Hermione and David snuck shy glances at each other when they thought the other wasn't looking, and then when they caught each other they'd both blush and look away.

David felt like a child again. He felt like he was back at the beginning of puberty and was just discovering girls. Although his thoughts about Hermione were definitely a lot more adventurous than anything he could have come up with five or six years ago.

But that in itself was a bad thing. He'd find himself staring at her when she wasn't paying any attention and before he even realised it, he was fantasising about her. He'd feel himself getting hard whilst imagining about how the skin on her thigh would feel, or maybe he would be wondering about if she would like a man (mainly himself) to be a little rough from time to time or not. He couldn't help himself. It was getting to the point that he was constantly using a book or his bag to cover his groin so she wouldn't see how hard he was. His dick clearly had a mind of its own.

And the fact that he couldn't seem to get any privacy to relieve himself of the situation certainly wasn't helping. No matter what time of the day he went to the showers or his room there was always someone else there. He couldn't get one moment of peace!

He was getting very frustrated.

However it was at the end of September when he found a solution. Funnily enough, the very reason for his frustrations supplied the solution.

Hermione was snoozing on one of the sofas in the common room one night when he threw himself down into the chair closest to her. She had a huge blanket wrapped around her but David could see she was wearing her pyjamas. They were completely modest and covered everything but David thought she looked good in everything.

He sighed loudly as he felt the stirrings of yet another erection. He wondered suddenly if you could die of a case of blue balls.

"Is everything okay?" Hermione asked without opening her eyes.

"Yeah," he sighed yet again. He saw Hermione smirk slightly.

"Doesn't seem like it."

"I just want to take a shower." He blurted out before he could think.

Hermione's eyes shot open and she grinned. "Have you not taken a shower since you got here?" She teased.

"Of course I have," he huffed, "I just can't seem to have a peaceful shower. All I can hear is the others talking about girls and whatever other crap. You can't relax listening to them."

Hermione looked at him before laughing loudly. David couldn't help but smile back.

"Why didn't you say sooner?" She asked once she had calmed down. "I could show you the prefect's bathroom or you could even use mine."

"You get your own bathroom?"

"Of course." She grinned.

So the next night Hermione took him to the prefect's bathroom and told him that no one would be in that night according to the schedule.

He was going to use Hermione's bathroom until he realised how creepy it would be to have a wank over her when using her bathroom. It felt creepy enough as it was, he didn't need to add that to his already guilty conscience.

He was amazed by the huge bath and all the different soaps.

He stripped off as the bath filled but happened to catch his reflection in a mirror. He would have to start running in the morning or something if he wanted to keep in shape. He had some muscle on him and he had quite a bit of definition to his abs and chest but he would lose that soon enough if he didn't start working out. He must have run after the kids a lot more than he thought.

Shaking the thought off he slowly slipped into the bath.

_This is Heaven._

He heard himself groan as he settled in. He decided that this was the best washing experience he would ever have, with or without a wank.

Hermione had said it wasn't really the same as the original but she had been told it was just as good. She also said that she hadn't used it so far but intended to eventually just to try it.

And all of sudden he was picturing Hermione in the bath. He could imagine her swimming towards him, her hair would be heavy with water and it would probably hang over her breasts. He knew she didn't have huge breasts but he all he wanted was a handful and he could guess that they were just about that.

He felt himself harden, _no surprise there_, but for a change he took hold of himself and groaned loudly at the feeling. He couldn't believe how long it had been since he had done this.

He gripped himself harder but tried to imagine it being Hermione's smaller hand. He imagined how she would move her hand and swipe her thumb over the slit. How she'd eventually grip harder and move her hand quicker, all the while whispering naughty little things to him.

He could hear himself groaning and cursing but somehow that all felt like it wasn't real, what was real was Hermione touching him and caressing him.

He suddenly felt himself shudder and, with what he could only describe as a roar, he came.

He was relaxed. For the first time in a very long time he was relaxed. He knew he was teetering on the edge of falling asleep, which probably wasn't a good idea considering he could slip under water but he couldn't help himself. He was so relaxed.

The water was still warm and it felt like a blanket was wrapped around him as he leaned against the side of the huge bath. He had one arm resting alongside the back of the bath and his head rested on it. His other arm lay across his body.

He was so ridiculously relaxed that he didn't even hear the door open. He also didn't hear the soft patter of feet on the tiled floor. He did however hear a very familiar voice calling his name.

"David?" He tried to open his eyes and gather the energy to move. "David, are you still in there?" The voice giggled.

"Hmm?" Was the best he could manage.

The voice giggled again and he suddenly felt a hand in his hair. "You're going to have to get out. It's practically curfew."

"Okay." He didn't move.

The hand moved from his hair to his arm and the feather light touches soon had him awakening.

"Are you going to get up?" He shook his head but smirked. "Come on." He sighed.

"If I have to." He mumbled still smirking. He turned suddenly and grabbed hold of Hermione's arms and pulled her ridiculously close to the edge of the bath but stopped her before she could fall in. She screamed his name right from when he grabbed her. All he could do was laugh.

"You are an awful person!" She smacked his arm. She went to get up but David kept hold of her arms. He tried to stop laughing but he couldn't completely.

"Take it back!" He got out between laughs. "Say you still think I'm amazing!"

She looked horrified. "No way! You nearly drowned me!" She tugged on her arms but David tugged back, pulling her closer to the edge.

"If you don't say it I'll drag you in." He raised one eyebrow.

Hermione glared. "You wouldn't dare."

"Oh, really?" He pulled her hands into the water and she squealed.

"Okay! Fine, I'll say it, just stop!" She took a deep breath as he paused. "I still think your amazing… Even though you're an absolute arse." She pulled her arms back and David let her.

"I suppose that'll do. Now hand me that towel and close your eyes."

He quickly got out and dried off enough to slip on his boxer briefs. "Okay, I'm decent." _Sort of._ When Hermione opened her eyes he was pleased to see that they practically popped out of her head as they travelled the expanse of his body. He smirked when her eyes finally made it back to his face.

"You should finish getting dressed." Her voice was shaky.

"Yeah." So was his.

* * *

**Bit of a cheeky update.**

**And I know I said I'd be updating last Wednesday but I've been backward and forward from my old flat to back home and I still haven't got everything! Anyway things are lot more chilled out now so you can expect more regular updates.**

**What do we think of the relationship development? Review!**


	7. Chapter 7

David felt immensely guilty. It was the 2nd of October, his birthday, and he hadn't told Hermione.

In all honesty he had genuinely forgotten all about it until Lukas had wished him a Happy Birthday that morning.

He couldn't believe it was his birthday. He didn't like his birthday. And he didn't really want to celebrate it. But his siblings would no doubt give him presents and cards and then he'd look ridiculous in front of Hermione after telling her off for not telling him about her birthday.

Although so far all he had received off each of his siblings was a simple Happy Birthday and it as already tea time. He was definitely suspicious.

He had been in the library trying to finish an essay when Hermione told him she needed to show him something. She refused to tell him anything but forced him to hurry up.

"Will you slow down?" He managed to huff out. She was dragging him up the staircases at a ridiculous rate.

"No! If the staircase moves we'll never get there!" She grabbed hold of his hand and pulled hard on it.

"And where is 'there'?" She ignored him.

Eventually they stopped in an empty hallway.

"What are we doing here?"

"Shh." She glared at him.

She started pacing quickly before stopping abruptly and pulling him over to a wall.

"Watch." And he did. He watched as a solid wooden door appeared in front of him. "Go on, open it." Hermione pulled on his hand and placed it on the door handle. He gave her a dubious look but was comforted by her insistent smile.

Inside was a room that was full of party decorations. A large banner hung on the back wall that stated 'Happy Birthday David'. There was also a table against the back wall that had all sorts of party type foods on. It all looked delicious. The best part of the room however, was the sofas where his siblings sat.

Gabrielle, Lukas, Leo, Craig and Samantha sat on the different chairs and sofas in the centre of the room and they all sat smiling at David.

"Happy Birthday, David!" Samantha grinned at David.

"You lot are so sneaky!" He teased them. It was all very sweet of them and he was going to love it despite him hating his birthday.

"It was Hermione's idea." Lukas smiled at Hermione. David turned and smiled a bit sheepishly at Hermione.

"Actually it was Gabrielle's idea. I just helped." She smiled back before pushing him more firmly into the room. He sat down next to Samantha and pulled her into a hug. He smiled at Gabrielle knowing she wouldn't appreciate a hug but would definitely want to be acknowledged.

Gabrielle just gave him a shrug.

Hermione sat in a chair close to David and smiled when Samantha snuggled into his side. None of them had really had a father figure but because Samantha had been so young when she had shown magical ability she hadn't had much affection from a father or a mother so she had taken a lot of comfort in David.

They all chatted for a little while before deciding to tuck into the food that was there. It had apparently been made by the house elves. David was surprised to find that Leo had actually asked them to make it. They had been very happy to do it.

"Everyone in Hufflepuff knows where the kitchens are. We go there after curfew all the time." Leo had told them.

"I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that." Hermione tried not to frown.

After they ate the food, Craig and Leo brought out a huge chocolate cake which had 19 candles on top. They all sang Happy Birthday, even Gabrielle.

"Make a wish!" Hermione cheered.

As he blew out the candles he wished that he could make everyone happy. Including himself for once.

"Okay, unwrap your presents now." Craig handed him heavy rectangle package. "This is from all of us."

He unwrapped the package ad discovered a scrap book full of pictures and small bits of writing here and there.

"We all made it." Samantha grinned.

"Yeah, we thought it'd be a perfect present for our big _sister._" Gabrielle said sarcastically.

"Oh, and I suppose you wanted you to get me what? A sword." He didn't appreciate his manliness being called into question, especially in front of Hermione. "I love it." He smiled as he saw a picture taken of everyone on Lucy's birthday. "Thank you."

"Lucy sent a load of stuff as well but you might want to look through it all in private." Lukas set a box near David. He nodded, if Lukas thought it was a good idea to be on his own, he'd wait until later.

"Is Lucy a friend?" Hermione asked with a slight frown.

"No, she's our sister." David replied.

"Oh," She nodded. "Well this is my present." She handed him a package that was sort of the same size and shape as the scrap book.

"You didn't have to get me anything." He said before ripping into the paper.

"I did. I mean your birthday present to me was pretty amazing." She blushed a very deep red before looking down at her hands.

He grinned as he unwrapped the present and discovered a book. "It's Hogwarts: A History."

"Your favourite book." He smiled.

"I thought you should know the history of the building and it's completely new. It's got me in it!" She was full out grinning now.

"I think this is your proudest moment."

"Any other book or magazine or newspaper and I would be completely modest but this is my favourite book. It's the best!"

He was actually excited to read the book. He wanted to know more about the castle and Hermione. He would also love to know about the re-build.

"Oh yeah, talking about the castle, where are we?"

"It's sort of like the old Room of Requirement. If you need something all you have to do is ask." Hermione had put on a sort of lecture voice, he had heard this voice before. "The old room was on the seventh floor but it sort of caught fire during the Final Battle. _That's in the book by the way._ We thought that we wouldn't ever have the same room again. And I suppose this room can be a bit temperamental, it tends to give the person what they need more than want. A first year actually discovered it; I just happened to be on a patrol and followed him to see what he was up to. I think he was lost. The door just appeared. I can only assume that the magic here at Hogwarts wants a Room of Requirement, so the magic made it."

"How come it changed floors?"

"There's a classroom where the old room was. This room should just be a wall." She smiled.

They stayed and chatted a little while longer before David told them all they should go to bed.

Lukas, Hermione and David walked back to the Gryffindor tower only talking now and then when something suddenly occurred to David.

"So, who told you about my birthday?" He looked at Hermione who was walking on his right.

"Gabrielle. Although I'm not entirely sure why. She doesn't seem to like me very much."

"Gabby doesn't like anyone." Lukas laughed.

"So, why didn't _you_ tell me about your birthday?" Hermione raised an eyebrow at him.

"I don't really like my birthday." He answered with a shrug.

"Why?"

"He doesn't like his birthday because he hasn't had a decent one in years." Lukas cut in probably knowing that David wouldn't answer.

"This one has been pretty good though." He said with a smile. He felt Hermione's hand slip into his.

About half an hour later David was sat on his bed staring into the box of things that Lucy had sent. There was a birthday card that had been scribbled in by all of the kids. They were amazing scribbles though. There was also a Wizarding picture of them all sat on the sofa in Lucy's house. The triplets were climbing on top of each other, the twins were fighting over a piece of paper and Keira was smiling directly into the camera and so appeared to be staring deeply at David.

His throat felt tight. He had been having such a good time lately that he had only spared a couple of thoughts for Keira and the rest of the kids recently. Gods, he was a horrible person. He had been obsessed with a having a good wank the past couple of weeks. He should have been thinking about those kids.

He was crying. He knew it. And he couldn't help it.

He picked out another piece of paper from the box. On the back of the paper Lucy had written that Keira had drawn him a picture. It was a lot of colourful scribbles and shapes but to him it was the best piece of art he had ever seen.

That night David cried himself to sleep clutching the bit of paper and a photo.

* * *

**I am so sorry for the late update! You can blame the 'tech' guy who was giving my laptop a system make-over and then didn't decided that some virus meant that he'd have to keep my laptop for a week not a couple of days.**

**Anyway to make up for it I'll be posting another chapter on Monday/Wednesday.**

**I hope you like this chapter! Are we feeling a bit sorry for David? Or should he man up?**

**Review!**


	8. Chapter 8

David had decided that something was going on.

Ginny Weasley had been glaring at him for a while and he didn't really understand why. He noticed that she was glaring at Hermione at a lot too. He didn't like that.

Why would anyone want to glare at Hermione? She's so sweet and nice and perfect…

Well he thought so anyway.

He had been told that Ginny was engaged to Harry Potter. This confused him because he knew that Hermione was best friends with Harry and Ginny's brother, Ron. So, why did Ginny dislike her? Ginny seemed like a perfectly normal, nice girl. Maybe she was crazy under all that.

It was about two weeks after David's birthday and things had finally calmed down. He seemed to have a grip on his school work and was enjoying his free time. He still felt guilty constantly when he was reminded of Keira and the other children but he seemed to be covering it up well. He knew that Gabby or Lukas would have called him out on it if they had noticed.

David also seemed to have a hold on his 'little' crush. He had used the prefect bathrooms a few more times since Hermione had showed it to him. He had to admit that since he had been able to… relieve his frustrations he was finding it a lot easier to relax and be himself around Hermione and not a hormonal teenager. He assumed that it was because of this reason that Hermione had opened up to him a lot more lately. She had told him stories about her younger years at Hogwarts. She said she wasn't quite ready to talk about her year being on the run and David understood. It had been a trying year for him and he hadn't done anything like Hermione had.

Hermione had been telling him one afternoon about the time she had punched Draco Malfoy, when Ginny Weasley stormed through the common room entrance. She came straight up to Hermione and David who were sat on a sofa.

"So apparently I'm being ridiculous." Ginny practically shouted at Hermione.

"What?" He could see the surprise on Hermione's face, she clearly hadn't been expecting this outburst.

"I just got a letter from Mum," Ginny stated like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Oh…" David had no idea what was happening but apparently Hermione did. "Look, I didn't even say anything to your mum. Ron asked if you were talking to me again and I told him the truth."

"I don't know why you're talking to Ron but neither of you had any right to go behind my back!" David watched as Hermione's face went red. He was pretty sure she was angry though not embarrassed, although there were a lot of people watching the exchange by then.

"I'm talking to Ron because he's one of my best friends and no one went behind your back." Hermione spoke through gritted teeth and David attempted to push himself back into the sofa cushions.

"He is not one of your best friends. People don't break their best friend's hearts!"

Hermione suddenly stood nose to nose with Ginny. David could feel Hermione's magic crackle and push out. He knew that she was powerful and he was quite scared about the magical backlash.

"I didn't break Ron's heart. It was actually his idea to break up, I just happened to whole heartedly agree!" Hermione's voice had been slowly rising but she suddenly took a calming breath. "If you still can't believe me then I suggest you talk to your family and grow up!" Hermione grabbed David's hand and pulled him towards the door of her private rooms. He hadn't ever been in there but he had knocked on the door before. She had told him it was accessible from the common room so it was easier in emergencies.

"Don't you dare walk away from me! Especially with your new boyfriend in tow!" He was pretty sure that she said something else but Hermione slammed the door so loudly he didn't catch it.

Hermione's room was amazing. It had a sofa and chairs gathered around a fireplace at one end of the room and a huge four poster bed the other. There was also a wide desk which was covered with paper and ink in what looked to be some sort of system but David would guess that no one would understand it except Hermione herself. Directly opposite the door he had been dragged in there was another, he assumed that it was her bathroom.

"Oh my Gods, why do you not sit in this room all the time?" He asked as he took a seat in one of the armchairs.

"I hate her!" Hermione clearly wasn't paying any attention to him. "Except I don't hate her, she was my friend but now she's acting like this!" She threw herself down on the sofa.

"What just happened?"

"She thinks I destroyed Ron's heart." She muttered miserably.

"And you didn't?" David couldn't see Hermione hurting anyone. Not intentionally anyway.

"Of course not!" She cried out. David watched as she slowly sat up and shuffled up to the end of the sofa that was closest to David. "Ron and I tried dating for a little while after the war. And for a while it worked but later on it became fairly obvious that it was because there was so much happening still and we weren't really seeing much of each other. When it calmed down we soon realised that we were better as friends. Ron suggested that we go back to being friends and nothing else and I agreed. And now Ginny seems to think that I broke up with him and destroyed his poor little heart." She rolled her eyes.

"She also said that I was your boyfriend…" David couldn't help but smirk. She had given him a lot of information and he figured that it was easier to make a joke than comment on a situation that realistically had nothing to do with him, despite how much he wanted it to have something to do with him.

"She did." She agreed with a slight laugh as David waggled his eyebrows.

The next day David had woken up on the sofa in Hermione's room.

He had stayed whilst Hermione had given him more details on her short relationship with Ron, eventually however, it turned into them both telling funny stories about themselves or friends. He had noticed that despite all the bad experiences Hermione had had she still seemed to have more fun stories than him.

He had always thought he had a normal childhood, at school anyway, but it was clear to him now that that was not true. He had obviously been way too serious as a child. He had constantly worried about his family, what was happening at home and getting good marks so he could maybe gain some respect from his mother. He didn't have time for being a kid, at least that's what it had felt like and it still did.

But he had pushed that deep down and enjoyed the evening. Hermione had called for a house elf named Yimmy and asked for some hot chocolate and other nice warm snacks. So it wasn't his fault that they had fallen asleep.

He had moved over to the sofa at some point in the evening and then they had both fallen asleep. He had no idea how they had ended up laid next to each other on the sofa. David was extremely happy about it though. There was no denying that. He was spooning her for Merlin's sake! This was one of the happiest moments of his life.

When he had woken up he was a bit confused. One of his arms was wrapped around Hermione's waist and the other lay under her head. Her body was pressed back into his and her hand was also wrapped around his wrist. She clearly wanted him there.

He had woken up a bit more now and was grinning like a fool into her hair. Gods, she had a lot of hair.

He was aware of his erection but he had been able to move his hips away from her bum and he intended to keep it that way, despite how much he wanted to press himself into that beautiful arse.

It was a good twenty minutes before Hermione awoke. She seemed just as confused as he was when he first woke up so David decided to pretend to be asleep. If she wasn't okay with it he didn't want to seem like he was.

She seemed to get her bearings about her but didn't move whilst David tried to breathe calmly. He was sure that she would move away any second. He waited slowly for her to fully understand the situation. It took a while. She tensed up for a second and David thought that'd be it. But she didn't. In fact, she snuggled back into him.

He tried not to freeze unnaturally in shock. He hadn't expected that. Surely that meant that she liked it? Liked him?

He suddenly realised how close she was to his pelvis and subtly shifted.

_Was it creepy pretending to be asleep?_ He wondered.

Maybe he should 'wake up'.

He shifted again but pretended to be waking up this time. He tightened his grip on Hermione because he was 'sleepy' and could get away with it.

He knew that she knew now that he was awake and she tensed a little bit.

"Morning," he croaked. He chuckled a bit at how rough he sounded. It seemed to break the ice though as Hermione laughed too.

She turned in his arms so she was looking up at him. "Morning," she grinned up at him.

After that start to the morning he had decided a visit to the prefect's bathroom was in order.

He had whistled all the way from the common rooms to the bathroom. He was oddly excited.

David had seen the schedule on Hermione's desk and had seen that it was free late on in the evening. He would probably miss curfew but he was sure he could sneak back.

He slipped through the door after telling the statue the password and quickly set up his towel and pyjamas on a marble bench. He didn't notice that someone was already in the bath.

"David?" That soft familiar voice called out to him. He was embarrassed to admit that he nearly jumped six feet in surprise.

"You scared the crap out of me!" He sank down onto the bench with his hand on his heart and his eyes closed.

"Sorry." She giggled. He opened his eyes to see a very naked and wet Hermione Granger.

Well her shoulders and head anyway.

Her hair was heavy with water and hung almost straight gathered on her shoulders and back. She was leaning forward and resting her arms on the side so he couldn't see anything specifically – a bit of cleavage and maybe some side boob but that was it.

She looked amazing. If he hadn't been hard before, he definitely was now. She had this totally relaxed look on her face, something that he imagined she would look like if she had just engaged in some… amorous activities.

"I didn't realise you would be here…" David tried to remove his eyes from the slight cleavage on show.

"Well _I_ didn't realise _you_ would be here." She smiled cheekily.

David wasn't really sure what to do next.

"I suppose I should go…" He started to collect his things.

"No, don't worry, I'll leave." She looked as if she might climb out in front him, David wasn't sure he could handle that.

"No!" He was nearly shouting. He put his hands out in a stop sign. "You stay, I'll go." His voice cracked slightly.

"You could always get in with me." She looked up at him with those sweet, innocent eyes.

"I really can't…" He croaked out. "Even as tempting as that sounds," he looked down at his hands and back at her again before hurrying out.

The bath incident wasn't spoken about again. Even as the month changed to November they didn't mention it. He even tried to not think about it. It turned him on way too much to spend a lot of time thinking about it. He had gotten to the bathroom the next day and had spent a ridiculous amount of time in there.

It was only a few days ago when David had been given something to take his mind off Hermione and the bath. A week into November and he received a letter from Lucy explaining that she had been told by Horven that the Hogwarts students get to visit Hogsmeade on specified weekends. He knew that one was coming up and had intended to have Hermione show him around. Lucy however had informed him that she was going to able to bring the kids to a park in Hogsmeade, meaning he'd be able to see them this coming Saturday.

He was ridiculously excited. Hermione had asked him why he was suddenly so happy and a bit crazy but he had managed to conjure up some crappy excuse. He wasn't sure he wanted her to know the extent of his huge family and all the crap behind it. He was definitely scared that it would freak her out and she wouldn't be interested in even being near him anymore.

He had spent the last few days telling the others and making arrangements for the visit. Gabby had told him that Draco Malfoy had asked her to accompany him on the Hogsmeade trip and she had been very blunt in telling him that 'one doesn't just pass up a date with Draco Malfoy to play with children.' He wanted to be angry but to be honest it was good she was doing teenage stuff like ditching her family for a boy. That's what teenage girls were supposed to do. So he had asked her to drop in for ten minutes at some point and she had agreed to.

Craig, Leo and Samantha had all said how unfair it was that they didn't get to go, especially since David was strictly speaking their Guardian and should be allowed to take them with him. David had told them to take it up with the Headmistress.

Lukas had said he would go with David but wanted to leave early so he could spend some time with his new friends.

So that Saturday David and Lukas made the trek through the heavy snow that had started falling that week. The park wasn't too far off the main streets but it was far enough that no one would be there without a reason. There were one or two families there so it wasn't hard to make out the triplets running around and causing havoc.

Of course he couldn't see their faces very well due to the hats and scarves but he knew the triplet's kind of trouble and this was definitely their kind of trouble.

He saw the twins pushing around a small ball of snow and watched as one of them gave up before throwing snow in the other boys face. He chuckled.

"What are you waiting for?" Lukas nudged him.

"David?" He knew that voice. He turned to see Hermione coming towards them from the way they had come.

"Hermione? What are you doing here?" He was panicked. This was not good. How was he going to explain this?

"Daddy!" Keira's little voice rang out and he couldn't help but turn and smile at the little girl currently running towards him. She stumbled a bit because of the snow but he managed to catch her before she tripped and he clutched her to him. He could feel tears stinging his eyes but he refused to cry. Her little giggle made him pull away slightly. He smiled again at his little girl before looking up at very confused Hermione.

* * *

**Dun dun duuuun.**

**As promised I've updated! For once I'm on time.**

**How do we think Hermione will react?**

**Review!**


	9. Chapter 9

David could remember the first time he held Keira.

His mother was ill. She was dying. He knew it. They hadn't been able to leave the house before she went into labour and the ambulance _still_ wasn't there. Despite how his mother had treated him and the others, he sat holding her hand as she begged him to do something. But he couldn't do anything.

She had clung to the baby girl. Whispering to her, telling her not to be magic. That it wasn't good for her baby girl. David didn't want to ruin her last moments on earth so he sat silently. The baby was screaming. She wouldn't stop crying. David thought there must be something wrong with her. Maybe she was ill.

All of a sudden she turned to him. She didn't have enough energy to hand him the baby but she told him to take her and he did.

She was tiny. He held her to his chest. He had read once that babies were soothed by being able to feel a heartbeat, so he held her as close as possible. He had held the other children before but never when they were so new and little. And they had never been crying this much. He felt himself rocking her. Trying to soothe her.

"Keira." His mother had told him quietly before slipping away.

That seemed so long ago now.

She was still tiny. But she was happy now. And he was sad that he was missing it.

Lukas was getting 'chased' by the triplets when he picked up Keira and flung her over his shoulder. She giggled loudly as Lukas jogged around the park.

"So?" Hermione and David leaned against the fence to the park. That was the first thing Hermione had said since Keira had called him Daddy. He hadn't corrected her. He didn't have the heart to anymore.

"I need to be with my family now but I'll explain everything back at Hogwarts." He didn't dare look at Hermione. There was a long pause before she answered.

"Of course." He felt her move and a moment later he heard the gate to the park squeak.

"Aren't you staying?" Lukas suddenly asked. David looked up to see him approaching the gate where Hermione had just left from. Keira sat on his shoulder.

"I'm not sure I should." Hermione said slowly.

"Yeah, you should. Shouldn't she, David?"

David looked Hermione in the eye. "Only if you want to."

Hermione hesitated for only a second before she walked through the gate again. David watched her move with a blank expression.

Suddenly Keira reached out for Hermione. Her chubby little hands stretched towards Hermione.

This time Hermione didn't hesitate, she reached over and plucked Keira from Lukas with a big grin.

"Hello sweetheart." She touched Keira's nose with the tip of her finger and Keira laughed loudly. "What's your name?"

"Keira!" She announced proudly. "Who are you?" She asked in that curious tone.

Hermione hesitated for a second, she was probably wondering how to refer to herself. "I'm Hermione." She eventually told Keira.

Keira gave her a doubtful look. Hermione just laughed before trying to teach Keira how to say her name.

David didn't know what to do. How could Hermione be so accepting of Keira? Keira had called him _Daddy_ and David said nothing. He knew that Hermione was a good person, but he also knew that even good people had a limit of what they would accept.

Unless she wasn't bothered because she didn't really like him so she didn't need to accept anything.

David rubbed at his head. This was confusing him.

The rest of the day was spent playing in the park. Lukas left when the kids sat on a nearby bench to have a snack. Hermione had kept them all warm by casting a spell that put a bubble of warmth around them all. Lucy really liked her because she was so good with the kids and of course the kids loved her. She was so calm and collected with them and yet still managed to be playful with them. The twins would barely let her out of their sight. They claimed that she was _their_ friend now. The triplets had of course tried to test her by causing out right hell. They soon realised that Hermione wouldn't take any crap.

After they had had a snack Gabby appeared with Draco Malfoy in tow. David tried to not glare him. He had to admit that Draco was weirdly good with the kids. That didn't mean that David wanted him there but when he questioned Gabby about it she had just said that Hermione was there so what was the difference?

"The difference," he had hissed, "is that Hermione is not on a date with me."

"Yeah but you wish she was." She had smirked at him before flouncing off to Draco, leaving him there glaring with his arms crossed.

She was right of course.

He hated when Gabby was right. They definitely had the most sibling rivalry between them and she usually outsmarted him. It must be those Slytherin qualities.

Gabrielle hadn't stayed long though. She disappeared with Draco after ten minutes. They only had an hour or so left after that so David made sure to keep the kids close. Keira seemed to sense that their time was coming to an end as she clung to David. She kept calling him Daddy and he still didn't correct her. Even when Lucy sent many disapproving looks his way. He didn't know why he didn't tell her she was wrong like he normally did. He just knew that he didn't want to.

Hermione was obviously trying to ignore the huge elephant but he'd catch her giving him confused looks every so often. He didn't really know how to react so he tried not to react at all. Ignoring the situation probably wasn't the most mature thing to do but David couldn't think of another way to deal with it all so…

When it came time to leave David tried to relax and not show how upset he was getting because he knew that it would upset Keira.

"Come on kids! It's time to go." Lucy called. The triplets took a while to be rounded up so David sat on a bench with Keira as Hermione made the twins laugh with some charm that had her wand spurting fireworks.

"I'll see you at Christmas." He whispered to a weepy Keira. He gave her a kiss on a cheek and then handed her to Lucy.

"Say bye to David!" Lucy had the kids give a round of cuddles to both David and Hermione before she gave him hug. Keira was giving Hermione a tight hug and he smiled at the thought of his two favourite girls getting along.

"She likes you." Lucy said quietly. "So don't mess it up." She poked him in the ribs before hugging him and pulling out a portkey in the form of a large matchbox.

The portkey activated and the afternoon was over.

The journey back to Hogwarts was silent. Hermione kept glancing at him, she was obviously waiting for an answer but David was trying to think of a way to explain it all.

As they were walking back to the common room David suggested they go to her room. She nodded and they went back to being silent.

The room was nice and warm as the fire had been lit before their return. Those house elves were really good at knowing what you needed.

They had only just sat on the sofa when she made a weird noise. "I can't wait any longer! Please explain what just happened!"

"Keira isn't my daughter." He thought he should start with the biggie.

"Isn't?" Her brow furrowed. "But she called you Dad!"

"I know." How could he put this into words? "She doesn't know any better. She's my sister."

"They're all your brothers and sisters then?" David nodded. "Wow. That is a big family." She smiled. "So where are your parents?"

"My mum passed away when she gave birth to Keira and my Dad disappeared a long while ago. They weren't exactly the best parents." He leaned back heavily into the cushions.

"Has Lucy been looking after the kids then?" Hermione took his hand in both of hers and David lost the ability to think for a second.

"Er… No. I mean yes. Kind of. It's been me more than her. It's why I didn't go to school last year." He took a deep breath. "Lucy had just had a baby and she was quite weak and then she got pregnant again. She couldn't look after them all. But Horven, her husband, was able to set us up with a flat. It was nowhere near Lucy and it was tiny but it was the best thing we could come up with. Especially since the war had just started to get bad.

"The older kids were still going to our school in Wales at that point so they weren't there at first. I got a job as a security guard for this fancy gated housing estate. I had to do the night shifts because the kids hadn't started proper school yet. The neighbour in the flat next to us was an old lady who didn't know many people so she was happy to look after the kids. It stayed like that for a while. With me working at night and looking after the kids between sleep.

"But then the school was destroyed at Easter so I had to home-school the older kids for a while. It was a long year. When we found out we could come to Hogwarts we jumped at the chance. The contract on the flat was about to run out so we moved to Lucy's and then here we are."

There was silence for a long time. David held Hermione's hand tight in his grasp, worried that she might pull away.

He didn't know how she would feel about it all. He clearly had a lot of baggage and he knew that that was majorly off putting for some people.

Hermione's hand suddenly squeezed his and before he knew what was happening she was cuddling into his side. He lifted his arm to put it around her and she did the same.

_Okay, this was definitely not what he was expecting._

Even though he had basically just told her his life story she was cuddling him. _Cuddling_. She was practically nuzzling him.

"I can't believe you had to go through all that." She was stroking his arm…

"I've been through a lot less than most. Including you."

She pulled away slightly and looked him in the eye. "We've all been forced to grow-up." They were quiet for a while until Hermione went back to cuddling him.

"So you don't mind that I've got a family the size of two Quidditch teams?" He teased.

"Don't be silly," she rubbed his arm, "two Quidditch teams make up fourteen people. Your family is only thirteen." Since her face was pressed to his chest he felt her grin.

"You're so funny." He pinched her side and she squealed. He knew she was going to try and get away so he made sure to keep a tight grip on her as she attempted to squirm away. He thought that a bit of comic relief was a good idea after that intense conversation.

"I know." They looked at each other and they both grinned. "I'm hilarious!" She cried out as she pinched his arm. She then pushed on him and in his surprise he loosened his grip. She tried to jump off the sofa but David managed to recover and grabbed her legs. Unfortunately that made Hermione land on the sofa with an audible 'oomf'.

"Are you okay?" David asked suddenly panicked that he'd hurt her. She didn't move for a second but then jumped up attempted to crawl of the sofa. "You cheeky little-" He grabbed her thighs before she could get away and pushed her face first into the sofa, all the while trying to still be soft and careful so she didn't get hurt.

He found himself straddling her arse and tickling her as she squealed and squirmed.

"Stop!" She screamed in-between laughs.

"Never!" Did he sound like a pirate?

She shouted something unintelligible so he leaned down close to her ear. "I'm sorry, I couldn't understand that." He grinned.

"I said please." She laughed.

"Hmm, maybe I'll let you go if you say that I'm amazing and the best person you've ever known." He had slowed his tickling and spoke close to her ear so she'd definitely hear him.

"No way!" She mocked gasped.

"Okay then." He went back to his merciless tickling.

"You know you've made me do this before! You're ego needs some work!" She squealed.

"Oh, really?" He doubled his efforts.

"Wait! Wait, I'll say it!" She squealed at the end as he hit a sensitive spot.

He slowed again. "Go ahead." He said quietly.

She turned her head a little and he became aware that their faces were ridiculously close, his hips were pushed into her arse and the top half of his body was pretty much touching her all over.

"You're amazing and the best person I've ever known."

"Good." He loosened his grip on her and she wiggled out of his grasp. He wasn't sure he could move.

She leaned in close to him and put her lips near his ear, "you're also the most annoying person I've ever known." She pulled back with a grin and David stared at her for a second before he started to chase her around the room.

* * *

**A bit more chilled towards the end of the chapter.**

**How are we liking the Hermione/David relationship dynamics?**

**Review!**


	10. Chapter 10

"Are you sure about this?" Hermione asked.

David was sat on his bed with Hermione; the dorm was empty so it was nice and quiet. He had decided to show her the box of items that he had received for his birthday from Lucy. It was all really important to him so he felt it was only right for her to see it all. He was trying to get across to her how important she was without actually having to saying it.

She had jumped at the chance to see the things he deemed important to him and that had made him ridiculously happy.

But now he couldn't help how he hesitated in showing her them. If she didn't really care for him in the way he wanted her to he wasn't sure if he could bare showing her anymore of his life.

"Yeah, I want to show you." He looked down at the box.

"But you don't have to. You know that, right?"

He supposed that that was what decided it.

He opened the box and took out the birthday card they had all scribbled in first.

"Not a lot of it is eligible but I can tell exactly who did which scribble." He smiled as Hermione took the card. She moved to sit next to him on the bed despite there being hardly any room with only him sat there, but with her they were so squashed up to each other that he had put his arm around her just so she wouldn't fall off. Not that he was complaining about being close to her.

"What about this pink one?" She pointed to a pink marking that kind of look like it was writing before it had been sabotaged.

"Tammy. But only these words and letters. This other pink one is Millie's. No doubt she stole the crayon from Tammy. There was probably a crayon fight after that. That would explain all the coloured dots." He laughed as he pointed out the odd markings amongst the lines.

"This red one, then?" She smiled with him.

"Hard to tell with that one. It's either Edward or Tom's. Most likely Edward's because red is his favourite colour. And those blue swirls are definitely Tom's so I'd say the other one is Edward's."

Hermione smiled up at him. "That's so sweet and slightly odd." They grinned at each other.

David then showed her the photos and the pictures the kids had drawn. He lingered for a while on the picture Keira had drawn. Hermione used her index finger to trace the lines on the paper as they sat silently.

"Has Keira shown magical ability?" She asked quietly.

"Yeah, she's had Horven levitating before. We couldn't get him down for ages." He laughed at the memory.

"Her magic is going to be so strong." She looked up at him and smiled. "Samantha's magic is strong as well."

"Yeah you're not kidding, her wand cost me a bomb." He leaned his head on hers. "I don't remember my wand costing that much." He took his wand off the bedside table.

"I'm so glad the Auror's found my wand." David watched as Hermione reached out and softly touched David's wand. It seemed to hum under her attention.

"What happened to it?" He found himself whispering.

"Snatchers took it. I did use Bellatrix's wand for a while but I hated it. Auror's just happened to get the guy who was holding my wand."

"That was lucky." David smiled at how his magic seemed to approve of Hermione's presence.

"Can you feel that?" Hermione asked as she reverently stroked the wand.

"Yeah." He nodded and pulled Hermione closer.

They stayed quiet for a while until Hermione sighed. When David asked what was wrong and he didn't get a reply he found that she was asleep. He wasted no time in drifting into the land of nod himself.

David wasn't getting fat. He knew he wasn't getting fat. But his once well-defined muscles were starting to become… _less_ defined.

So he had decided that he should try running. The only probably was that running in the snow in a place he didn't really know that well had him lost with a stitch the first week he started running. He was late for his morning classes all week.

Finally Hermione asked him what the hell was going on.

"But I keep getting lost." He huffed after he had finished telling her all about his problem. "And you know outside all looks the same in the snow." He was practically shovelling food into his mouth.

"It really doesn't." She laughed but took his plate away when he went to put more food on it. He couldn't help but glare at her.

"What am I supposed to do? I don't want to get fat. I like being muscly." He glared at the empty space where his plate should have been.

Hermione was quiet for a long time. Too quiet.

When David looked up at her she was staring at him. Not at his face but at his body.

"Hermione?" He tried to get her attention since he was suddenly feeling self-conscious. Her head popped up but she continued to stare at him, only it was his face this time. "Er, Hermione?"

"What?" She looked slightly confused for a second before she shook her head. "What were we talking about?"

"Running…" He said slowly. "Are you okay?"

"Yes. I'm fine. You know I could come running with you. I know these grounds like the back of my hand."

"That's great." He smiled and she smiled back.

David had deemed that Hermione was trying to kill him. He had no idea how physically fit she was. She ran for miles. Literally. He had wanted to just lie down in the snow and let hypothermia take hold after the first mile on the first day.

Hermione had just told him to suck it up when he begged her to just get him to the Gryffindor tower as fast as possible. Apparently she didn't appreciate that he was about to die.

One day after they had been running on Sunday 25th November he informed Hermione that Lukas' birthday was coming up on the Wednesday.

"I've got him a present, it's a new Chess set and I wanted to do something on his birthday, but I've got no idea what." He was surprised he could talk to be honest. Hermione had been brutal again. They had both had (separate) showers in Hermione's room and then he had collapsed on her sofa whilst she sat there in the armchair like nothing had happened.

He kept telling himself he wasn't jealous of that.

But of course that was a lie.

"Why don't you just ask him? Not every birthday party has to be surprise." She had said with a perfect little smile on her face.

So the next day David asked Lukas if he wanted to play Chess that night.

They sat in the Common room and were on their third game before David remembered why he had asked in the first place.

"I was wondering what you wanted to do for your birthday?"

"I've actually got something planned already." Lukas said a bit sheepishly.

"Oh, what's that then?"

"Well some of my friends suggested that we do something so we're having a bit of thing in one of the classrooms. And then when it gets to curfew my friends in Gryffindor are going to come up to my dorm for a little while." Lukas didn't look at David but David couldn't stop staring at him for a second. He hadn't realized that Lukas would want to do something with his friends.

"Right." He shook his head. "Of course." He tried to smile. It was good that he was doing things with his friends. It was good that he had made friends.

"But we can still do something." Lukas insisted.

"No, that's okay." His smile was a bit off but it was better. "You should spend time with your friends."

Lukas didn't say anything more until he called check-mate.

"What's bothering you?" Hermione asked the next day.

"Nothing." They were in the library working on a potions essay but David had barely written anything compared to Hermione's nearly finished essay.

"Well clearly there is something bothering you so spit it out or do your essay. If I see you flick ink at that book again I'll stab you with the quill." He had to smirk at that.

"Fine, I'll do my work." He dipped his quill in the ink and hovered his quill over the parchment until he realised he now had no idea what the essay was about.

"Oh for Circe's sake." Hermione huffed before grabbing his quill. "What is wrong? And don't say nothing." She pointed her finger at him. He only hesitated for a second.

"Lukas is spending his birthday with his friends."

"And?" Hermione raised an eyebrow.

"_And_ we've always spent birthdays together. Even Gabby." He looked down at his hands. "I guess I'm just going to miss him."

Hermione reached out and took his hand. "You're still going to see him, silly."

"I know. But this is his 15th. He's growing up." David squeezed Hermione's hand. "When he was younger he depended on me for everything. I don't remember him ever having a problem that wasn't solved by me helping him in some way." They smiled each other.

"Well he's learnt how to solve problems all by himself now and that's because you showed him how. You can't think of that as a bad thing."

"I don't, not really." He smiled. "I remember this time when our parents had been fighting pretty bad because Lukas had just started showing magical ability. Lukas was crying so much. To cheer him up I brought out my comic books. They were old because my mum had stopped buying me them but I had all the classics. Superman, Batman, Spiderman, X-Men and Avengers. I had loads more than that as well.

"I still didn't know much about magic at that time; only what I had overheard my mum telling my dad, but what I did know was that there were special people all over this world. Superhero's just happened to demonstrate that. Lukas loved them. From then on, whenever he was upset over something that neither us could do anything about I'd get out the comic books. When I started earning money from odd jobs the first present I got Lukas was a Superman action figure." David felt Hermione move and then she was hugging his shoulders. It wasn't long before David tugged Hermione into his lap. He was probably taking liberties here that he shouldn't be taking but he felt he could take the risk.

It was unreal how much comfort he took from having her so close.

"I love how committed you've been to your family. But now you have to change what type of commitment you're giving because your family is changing." She brushed his hair back with her fingers and although normally that seemed like that sort of thing that would turn him on immensely, at that moment it brought him comfort, and he revelled in it. "And just like Lukas growing up, it isn't a bad thing."

"Thank you." He whispered.

He pulled her close and breathed in her scent. He needed this with her.

"Oi!" A voice came nearby. "You love birds might want to move on, Madam Pince is on her way." They both looked up, searching for the voice. They both found Draco Malfoy smirking at them near the end of the book case. "Or maybe she isn't. Oops, didn't mean to disturb you." He laughed as Hermione and David both threw a couple of hexes his way

* * *

**Probably feels like a bit of a filler but I think it shows a bit more background to David and his family.**

**Review!**


	11. Chapter 11

**Just a quick note to say that I'm randomly dedicating this chapter to war sage who always reviews. You really underestimate how much reviews mean until writing. I always try to review to stories now because it does really mean something. So thank you, war sage!**

* * *

David felt old. Like ancient.

His family was gathered in one of the unused classrooms for Samantha's birthday. However Samantha had brought along her friends. They were all first years and were genuinely half his size.

David was a tall bloke and all these first years were tiny.

No wait, Hermione was tiny. The first years were practically non-existence. How had he never noticed how small kids are?

"I'm surprised I was invited." Hermione and David stood off to one side so the kids didn't feel intimidated. It had nothing to do with the fact that David enjoyed having Hermione all to himself.

"Why?" David grinned at Hermione. "She loves you. I reckon she wants to be like you."

Hermione frowned for a second before giving David a confused glance. "Why on earth would she want to be like me? This last year is the only year I haven't been teased at school."

"Probably because you're smart and pretty and you're always so confident. And you were only teased because everyone was jealous that you can be all of that." He felt his face grow warm as he realised what he'd said.

"You are insane." Hermione nudged him.

He was definitely insane. He wasn't insane for knowing that Hermione was amazing but he was insane for admitting it all like that in front of her. In a very public place.

"Gabrielle is here." She pointed to Gabby walking through the classroom door. "Oh, she brought Draco."

He felt the crack in his neck as his head shot up to catch sight of Gabrielle with Draco Malfoy's arm wrapped tightly around her.

"Oh stop glaring at him." Hermione scolded. David couldn't help but frown.

"I'm allowed to glare at him. It's like big brother code or something."

Hermione rolled her eyes at him before grabbing his hand and dragging him over to them.

He loved it when Hermione held his hand.

"Hello you two!" Hermione said cheerfully. Gabby just raised an eyebrow in reply. Always so polite.

"Hermione." Draco nodded. "David."

"Malfoy." David wondered if he had ever glared so much at one person.

"Shut up, David." Gabby shook her head as if she was dealing with a child. "Come on, Drake, I'll give this to Samantha and then we can get out of here."

"Actually, why don't you and Hermione go get a drink so _Drake_ and I can have a little chat?" He gave Hermione's hand a squeeze before letting go and crossing his arms.

He was suddenly very glad that he was tall and slightly muscly. Draco had an intimidating air about him and he held himself in such a way that told you he was untouchable. However David was a good few inches taller than him.

"You know you're mentally unstable, don't you?" Gabby said as she stormed off to Samantha. Hermione was obviously trying to hold in her laughter so she shuffled off after her.

David was trying to ignore the fact that him being 'mentally unstable' was a common theme today.

"I'm not going to hurt her." Draco told him firmly.

David turned to look at him and gave him a scrutinizing glare. "I don't think you'd do it intentionally." David tried to get his words right. He didn't want to tell Draco anything that he didn't already know. He doubted that Gabby would forgive him for that. "She's been through a lot considering she's only 16. You should know that that is the only reason I'm letting you anywhere near her. You're basically 3 years older but Gabby is already years older than anyone I've ever met."

Draco seemed to consider this for a second. "I've been through a lot too. I've had enough issues and drama to last me three life times. I'll be keeping the peace in my life for as long as possible and she helps me do that."

They both gave each other another glance before David nodded and they both walked over to the girls.

It was only a few days after Samantha's birthday that David realised that he still had a lot to learn.

Lukas and himself had decided to play a game of chess one afternoon and so David wasn't surprised to find Lukas in David's dorm room.

He was however surprised to find him casting the Patronus Charm. A silvery tiger bounced around his room as Lukas watched it with a grin.

"Since when could you do the Patronus Charm?" David asked.

"Since Professor Flitwick taught me in that advanced class his running on Sundays." Lukas called off the Patronus and turned to the chess board set up on David's bed. "I'm so glad my Patronus is a good animal. Jenny from Ravenclaw got a cow. She got so angry when Rena said it was because she's a cow to all her friends." He chuckled to himself. "What's your Patronus?"

"I don't know. I never learnt how to do it." David had never felt jealous of his little brother before but Lukas knowing something that David didn't was slightly off putting.

"Oh," Lukas stared at his brother for a moment before shaking his head.

"What?" David huffed as he sat on the bed.

"Nothing."

"No, come on, spit it out."

"I could teach you it." Lukas kept his head down but David could see the smirk. Lukas was a good kid but David knew that if the roles were reversed he would have taken the same pleasure in teaching his big brother something that cool.

It didn't mean that David had to take any pleasure in it though.

"Are you going to be a smug bastard about it?" He asked sarcastically.

Lukas only rolled his eyes before grabbing his school bag off the floor.

"You should read the Patronus Charm section in this book." He said handing him a hefty old looking book. "It doesn't help you cast the spell or make it any stronger but it does help to understand all the workings of it. Don't take too long though. I need to read the next chapter."

"Fine." David nodded. "Now are we playing Chess or what?"

David never thought he would find Hermione annoying but then again he didn't know that Hermione liked to sing Christmas songs very badly.

She especially liked to do this when he was studying. So as something that he found endearing only an hour ago he was surprised how much he suddenly hated it.

He had to hand this damn potions essay in tomorrow and it was already ten in the evening. Everyone else was having a good old time with the holidays coming up but David had to be studious and agree to take on an extra project with Hermione.

How had she convinced him to do that? He had already decided he wouldn't do it when the whole idea was brought up but one conversation with Hermione later and he was happily explaining the disadvantages of Wolfsbane and how he thought it could be improved.

And now she had finished with her half of the project and she was reading a book whilst singing those stupid Christmas tunes.

"Hermione!" He suddenly huffed.

She jumped slightly but immediately stopped singing. "Yes?" She asked cautiously.

"I can't concentrate with you singing." He knew as soon as he said it that he shouldn't have. She looked embarrassed and hurt. "When you sing when I'm not working it's cute, honestly. But everyone is already having a good time whilst I'm doing this and if I even think about Christmas this isn't going to get done."

Hermione still looked unsure but nodded anyway.

He went back to work after doing damage control but now Hermione was too quiet. He could see her in the corner of his eye thinking something over.

"Cute?" She suddenly asked.

"What?"

"You said it's 'cute'." David watched as she fiddled with the pages of her book.

"Yeah, and?" He tried to play it off as nothing. He didn't need her to know how obsessed with her he was.

"Well did you mean it?" She huffed.

"Maybe." He shrugged. Sensing an awkward moment he turned back to his essay. "I'm trying to work here."

He saw in the corner of his eye as she smirked.

David was looking forward to the holidays. He was going to miss Hermione but they'd already agreed to meet up. He couldn't wait to see the twins and the triplets. And of course Keira.

He only had a week to go now. The last lessons were on the 21st and then they headed home on the Hogwarts Express the day after.

The girls at Hogwarts had all handed out Christmas cards, David was quite smug in the fact that he had received a lot of them.

They all had kisses in them as well.

Hermione had not been so happy about this. But that only made David happier about it all.

"I just don't know why they all have to send _you_ cards." She frowned as David opened _another_ Christmas card.

David just wanted to eat breakfast that morning but for a few girls who were too shy to simply hand him the card it made perfect sense for the owls to bring them. He had received five cards that morning in the post and one from an overly friendly Slytherin girl who had slid right up to him and practically sat in his lap.

"I'm sorry, are you angry because people like me?" He grinned at her. The card from the Slytherin girl had an actual kiss in it from where she had pressed lipstick covered lips to the inside. He showed it to Hermione who glared across the hall at the girl.

"I'm angry because… the girls of Hogwarts are all… _sluts_." She hissed to him.

"They sent cards, not shags." He got a heavy glare for that but he couldn't stop grinning.

The last card however wasn't like the others. It had a simple picture of a fireplace with Christmas stockings surrounding it rather than the elaborate scenes or flirty fronts that had been on the other cards.

Inside it simply said _Merry Christmas. Dad._

* * *

**Ooohhhh.**

**I know that again this chapter seemed like a bit of a filler but this was important. I wanted to show, in true Harry Potter style, that when everything is going right, it still isn't.**

**Anyway, what do you think of David's dad getting in touch?**

**Review!**


	12. Chapter 12

He felt Hermione lean over his arm to see who it was from before a soft _oh_ fell from her lips.

"That bastard." He hissed. He could feel his magic flex inside of him and a slow burning started from inside of him until finally it burst out and the card caught fire.

"David!" Hermione pulled his arms away from the flames but it was too late, his hands had already gotten burnt. He couldn't feel it. He was still angry as hell. "We need to get you to the Hospital Wing."

Hermione pulled him up and ushered him out of the hall. He could see his family following out the corner of his eye.

"What the hell just happened?" Gabby demanded.

Hermione looked up a David's blank face before answering. "David can tell you later, let's just get to Madam Pomfrey. His hands look horrid."

He looked down at his hands. They did look horrid. Like someone had poured wax all over them.

"For Merlin's sake David. You should have better control over your magic. You're not a child." Gabby scolded as they walked. David found that that pissed him off. It wasn't his fault. Grown adults had problems controlling an influx of magic.

His magic felt exactly the same as he did about that card. It didn't want to see_ it_, it knew it was bad news. It had felt like the magic inside of him had done it.

"Oh dear! What on earth happened here?" Madame Pomfrey cried. She guided the group to a bed and practically pushed David onto it. She mumbled something whilst pressing her wand to the fabric of his jumper and school shirt which touched the burnt areas. The fabric fell open like it had been cut and then Madame Pomfrey got to work on healing him.

"You'll be fine but the skin has had to grow back so you keep those bandages on for the rest of the day and then come see me about an hour before curfew and I'll replace the bandages." She pulled a small vial out of her pocket and handed it to Hermione. "He seems like the sort to be brave and not tell you when he's in pain so you make sure he takes that in about an hour. The numbing from the salve will have worn off by then." She looked towards the nervous but relieved group behind them and told them to get off to their lessons since they'd be starting soon.

"We're going to talk about this." Gabby warned him before walking away. Samantha gave him a peck on the cheek and huge hug before following the others.

"Give this to your teachers so they know you won't be able to write anything today," she said and gave him a piece of parchment with writing on, which he dropped, "you won't be able to hold a fork either so you'll need help there." Again she turned to Hermione, "make sure he eats, his body won't heal with just thin air."

"I'll look after him."

True to her word Hermione did look after him.

After an hour she force fed him the pain potion, despite his protests that he wasn't in pain. Which he was but it was his fault he was in pain. Hermione had just huffed that she didn't care and that he was taking the potion whether he liked it or not.

She also fed him at lunch time since the only thing he could hold was bread and he dropped that about four times.

He didn't like to be babied but he definitely appreciated having Hermione's attentions solely on him.

"Do you want some fruit?" She asked in that adorable little sympathetic tone.

"No I'm okay." He smiled at her as she fussed over his tie. He could get used to this.

"Are you sure? Madame Pomfrey said you have to eat." She pouted up at him. Merlin, he wanted to kiss her.

"I did eat. I had a sandwich _and_ some soup." He pushed the bowl of fruit towards her as best he could. "You should eat though. You've only had soup."

She smiled indulgently at him before picking up an apple. He had the feeling that she was humouring him.

Not that he really cared. All her attentions were focused on him and only him so as long as she was humouring _him_ and not anyone else it was all good.

As they started to get ready to walk to their next lesson Hermione lifted his bag onto his shoulder and didn't take her hands off him until she was sure it wasn't going to fall off.

It was such a bitter sweet torture. She was getting him all worked up and he couldn't do anything about it. He definitely couldn't take matters into his own hands so to speak because that would cause his hands a lot of pain.

He nearly let out a groan when she rubbed at some stain near the bottom of his jumper. He had to pretend that his hand was hurting him when she saw his agonised face. The pain potion had taken away any pain and she must have known that. But she just nodded and ushered him along to the next class.

The rest of the day passed in this same sweet torture for David as he let her do everything for him. Even when he didn't really need her assistance he let her go ahead and help him. She fed him again at tea and then escorted him to the hospital wing.

Madame Pomfrey quickly unwrapped his bandages and tried to hide his hands from him. When he caught a glimpse at them he wasn't surprised that she didn't want him to see them. The skin had only just grown back so it was pink and shiny. It was unnatural but David told Madame Pomfrey that he wanted to be a healer so he had best get used to stuff like this anyway. It seemed a lot more upsetting when it was on yourself though. Especially since he couldn't really feel his hands.

After she was done she told him to come back in the morning before breakfast and it should be fully healed.

Hermione continued to fuss over him right up until they decided to go to sleep.

"I'm not sure how I'll get changed for bed…" David mused out loud as he attempted to put his books back in his bag.

He could feel Hermione's eyes on him and he chanced a look up to see her biting her lip and giving him a look that he couldn't quite decipher.

"What?"

"Did you want help?" She asked in a shy little voice.

"Oh, er, no… I wasn't implying that you… undress me. I was just thinking out loud." He stumbled over his words as he tried to not picture Hermione undressing him. "I can just use a spell." He said as he attempted to pick up his wand only for it fall out of his grasp because he couldn't clench his fist at all. "I'll find a way."

Hermione looked very torn. He was hoping it wasn't because she didn't want to see or touch him in some state of undress.

"I'll help." She said in that stubborn way of hers.

"You really don't have to." Could he even handle her undressing him? Wasn't his mind, and something else, just going to explode if that happened?

"Well either I help or you're going to be sleeping in your school uniform." She shook her head at him before picking up his bag and setting it on his shoulder. "Lead the way." She gestured up the staircase.

David swallowed loudly before heading towards the staircase.

Everyone in his dorm was either asleep or not there. He had seen a couple of the more outgoing guys in the common room, they'd probably be there until midnight.

He dumped his bag on his trunk and then turned round to Hermione who was fiddling with her jumper and trying to not look at him.

She cast a couple of spells on the beds that had sleeping people in, he assumed so if they made any noise the other guys wouldn't wake up.

"So," she started, "what do you sleep in?" Oh Merlin, why didn't he have decent pyjamas?

"Just in my underwear." What boxer's did he put on this morning? _Please don't let it be Kermit the frog ones._ They were supposed to be a joke from Lucy anyway but for some reason he wore them sometimes. _But was he wearing them now?_

"Oh. I don't have to help you into any clothes then?" She paused for a second before adding on, "until tomorrow morning anyway…"

He squeezed his eyes shut and took a deep clearing breath. "Why don't you help me get my arms through the jumper sleeves first?"

She stepped close to him and took his hand. She moved the sleeve around so he barely touched his bandages before doing the same to the other arm and then pulling it gently over his head. She then undid the buttons at the cuffs of his shirt and then moved slowly onto the actual buttons of the shirt.

He hoped she didn't feel his heartbeat banging fiercely against his chest as she moved her hands down with the buttons. When she got to where the shirt was tucked in to his trousers she pulled a little at the shirt and it easily un-tucked.

She slid the shirt slowly off his shoulders. It felt like she was touching every bit of skin that she possible could and David knew he was in trouble when she had to undo his trousers. She couldn't not see the bulge pressing against them.

She pulled away with the shirt in hand and moved to fold it over the trunk. She took a couple more seconds which David was grateful for. If she was having half the hormonal fuelled feelings he was than she was struggling as well.

When she turned back to him David gave her a shaky smiled which she returned in an equally shaky manner.

"Is this weird?" She asked suddenly. "I mean it feels weird. Not bad-weird but weird."

"It's a bit weird." He agreed and they both let out a laugh.

"But good-weird, right?"

"Sure," he paused, "can weird be good?"

She looked up at him and seemed to think it over before shrugging. "Well this isn't bad-weird so it's got to be good-weird." She said with a certain nod of her head.

With the weirdness acknowledged it probably would have gone a lot smoother but as Hermione put her hands on the top of his trousers she obviously became very aware of his erection. He had closed his eyes as soon as she had frozen so he didn't have to see her running from the room with a look of disgust on her face but she kind of just stayed frozen.

David got more nervous with each minute that went by and she still did nothing. Finally he opened his eyes and took a step back. Hermione's hands sort of hovered where he had stood.

"I'm sorry." He stuttered over his apology, "a pretty girl undresses me and… You know _that part_ of the male anatomy is not easily controlled." He licked his lips but his tongue was just as dry. "You can go if you want. Just remember that I'm sorry." He turned so he wasn't facing her. She was only staring at her hands and he wasn't sure if that was bad or good although he was pretty sure it was a bad reaction.

It was a few more seconds before he heard her move, he was surprised however to feel her hand on his bare back.

"You can't sleep in your trousers. Let's finish getting you undressed." She said quietly. David took that as a good sign. It had to be a good sign that she hadn't run away screaming, right?

When he turned around she told him to kick off his shoes and she bent down to pull off his socks. It was all done in a very strictly procedural way. Especially when she came back to his trousers. His erection had abated slightly due to the tense situation but it was clear that it wasn't completely under control. He never thought he'd be cursing the fact that he had a large dick.

Hermione's hands shook slightly as she undid the button and the zipper, she clearly tried to touch as little as possible, whether that was for his benefit or her own he didn't know.

He held his trousers up with a bandaged covered hand to try and make the situation less awkward.

Hermione seemed to appreciate that and gave him a nod. "I'll see you tomorrow." She said curtly.

"Wait! Hermione. Are we still good? Or should I be avoiding you tomorrow?" He tried not to fall over the cuffs of his trousers as he lunged to stop her from going out the door. It was definitely not the smoothest moment of his life.

Hermione gave him a blank look before furrowing her brow. "I have been best friends with two boys since I was eleven, and I lived in a tent with them for over half a year. I understand the awkward boy stuff. I'm not some delicate little girl. I've been way too over exposed to weird boy stuff."

"Then why'd you freeze up so much?" He choked on his next words slightly, "I thought you were going to rip _it_ off for a second there."

Hermione looked very shocked at the question and David wondered why it seemed to puzzle her so.

"I don't know!" She took a shaky breath. "I guess I just didn't know that you saw me in _that_ way."

"Hermione, are you kidding me?" The words sort of exploded from his mouth as his brain attempted to put back the filter from his brain to his mouth. "Have you seen yourself? You're gorgeous. How could I not see you _that_ way?"

She looked a little lost as she kept staring at him.

"Oh and you can't just be gorgeous," he continued shaking his head, "of course you have to be smart and funny as well so I can't hate you." He threw a hand in the air, the other keeping his trousers up, "and then we spend all this time together and I find out you're even better than all of that! My gods, Hermione, it's like someone took my idea of a perfect woman and then threw it at me in the form of someone who only notices me as a friend!"

Hermione's mouth was gaping like a fish's when he finally finished. He fell heavily on his bed with a huff as she stood there wordlessly.

Suddenly she closed her mouth with an audible snap. "You know the Christmas holiday is about to begin." She stated.

"Yeah, that's great." He shook his head, "I'm sorry, was our conversation before finished?" David was confused. He'd practically just confessed his love for her and she was chatting about the Christmas holidays.

"No, it's just we are leaving in a matter of days for two weeks and you throw this at me!" She accused with a pointed finger in his direction.

"I'm sorry?" He wasn't really sure why she was so bothered about that.

"Yes, well, you should be Mister." She nodded. "Now, I'm going to bed." She turned towards the door once again.

"Bed? Aren't we going to talk about everything that I just said?"

"I need to think." She snapped. "I'm sorry but I need to think this all over. Just give me some time." She left quickly not giving him a chance to say anything else. David sat there unsure of what to do now.

_What just happened?_

* * *

**I'm so sorry I forget to update last Monday! I don't know how I did that. I'm about two chapters ahead every time I upload one so I must have written a chapter and then just assumed I'd already uploaded the chapter. I don't even know. I am sorry though.**

**How do we feel about this chapter? A lot just happened!**

**It was my birthday yesterday so make sure you send me a review present.**


	13. Chapter 13

Hermione came back in the morning to help David get dressed but they barely said two words to each other. They walked to the Hospital Wing in complete silence and Madame Pomfrey was kind enough to not mention that there was clearly something going on.

She undid his bandages and David saw that the skin had been completely healed but she applied one last layer of the salve just to make sure.

"No more accidents like that!" She told him sternly and he agreed wholeheartedly.

For the next few days Hermione avoided David like the plague. They still sat together in class and sometimes at dinner but that was it. She stayed deep in the library during the evening and the one time David was actually awake when she came back to the common room she scurried off to her room before he could even say hello.

David felt like he was having withdrawal symptoms. Hermione was who he wanted and now she knew it. But she didn't even want to go near him. He didn't know how to deal with that. He'd only had a couple of girlfriends in the past, and realistically how serious could anything be before a guy turns 16?

In short, David was clueless.

He had had to explain to Gabby why the whole burning thing had happened in the first place and she had seethed nearly as much as he had when he told her about the card.

"How dare he? After what he did! He can crawl back into whatever hole he disappeared to in the first place."

Lukas had been told as well and he had looked horrified. "What if he tries to contact us? I don't want to see him." The devastated look on his face broke David's heart. "We've just started to do well again. We're _normal_ for once. None of the teachers or the students give us that horrible pitying look. I don't want to go back to that!"

"We won't. Lukas, I'm not going to let him anywhere near us. The only thing he knows is that we're at Hogwarts. He can't come here and he certainly doesn't know where Lucy lives. She doesn't want that bastard near us let alone near her own kids." He sighed and patted Lukas on the shoulder. "It'll be fine, yes it's annoying and completely not okay for him to try and get in touch now but that's as far as it will ever go."

"Promise?" He looked so doubtful.

"I promise. Do you really think I'd let him worm his way back into our family?"

"No."

"Of course not, I'm the best brother ever, I'm Super Brother, I don't let things hurt you guys do I?" He said with a grin and Lukas had grinned right back.

They had told Craig, Leo and Samantha that David had just had an accident with a spell. None of them had actually seen what had happened and he didn't want to worry them when they were so young. It was unnecessary. Craig had given him such a look of doubt but Gabby had just cut in saying that David was an idiot for getting himself burnt with a spell at his age and that Draco would never do something like that.

David had sarcastically said thank you and they all tried to move on from the incident.

They were two days away from going home for Christmas when Hermione came up to him in the common room. She very casually sat next to him whilst he stared at her like she had grown an extra head or something.

"So I was thinking," she started, "can we go back to how we were? I mean I really miss you and we can still be friends, right?" She gave him a weak smile.

David was a bit shell shocked. He continued to stare until Hermione's eyes started to look a bit watery.

"Yes! That's fine. Brilliant." He tried to look at something else but he kept being drawn back to her. "Don't you think that'll be weird?"

"No." David couldn't help but think she didn't sound so sure about that. "People can be friends when they've got feelings for each other."

"So you've got feelings for me?" He tried to keep the grin off his face. He'd look a fool if she turned around and said no.

"Isn't that obvious?"

David stared at her for a second before shaking his head. "Definitely not."

"Well it should be." She pulled a book from her bag. "Carry on with what you were doing before." She said sternly.

And he did.

The last few days they spent together were weird. It was just like it had been before but now it had an odd sexual tension to it. David knew that he had always been sexually frustrated when hanging out with Hermione but she felt it too now. It was obvious even to him and he didn't seem to pick up on anything.

They'd just be doing normal things when it would get all tense and sexy. Like when they had been in the library and she couldn't reach a book. Before it even occurred to either of them to use a spell he had reached over and plucked it off the shelf. Then they spent about two minutes just staring at each other and thinking about how close they were. They only stopped when a first year ran by and fell over.

The night before they were scheduled to leave for Christmas David had gone into Hermione's room whilst she finished packing a few odds and ends. She couldn't decide on what books she'd need for the holidays.

"You know you've already done the majority of your homework, don't you?" He said whilst looking through one of the books laid on her bed.

"Don't be so ridiculous!" She huffed. She grabbed the book out of David's hands and put it into a tiny little sparkly bag that David assumed had a charm on it.

She shuffled through some books again and a piece of parchment fell onto the bed, her brow furrowed before she read it and then a look of understand suddenly appeared on her face.

"Oh!" She looked up at him and bit her lip.

"What?" David suddenly felt very worried about the look on her face.

"Well it's just that the other day I got a letter from Harry and Ron and I suppose I must have spoken about you a few too many times," she looked very embarrassed at this but David just felt incredibly happy about it, "anyway they said they wanted to meet you…" And then David lost all confidence.

"Your best friends want to meet me?" He asked slowly. "Your best friends as in the two guys who helped defeat Voldemort? As in you've known them since you were eleven? And you used to date one of them and the other is Harry Potter? They're going to hex me, right?"

"Oh, honestly!" Hermione threw her hands up. "They'll do no such thing, they're not that intimidating. To be completely honest they're not intimidating at all."

"Oh no, not all, although I'm sure Voldemort would disagree."

She gave him a look that told him she hadn't found that at all funny.

"They just want to make sure you're nice. That you are normal." She smiled but he groaned.

"Oh gods, I'm screwed." He fell onto Hermione's bed and groaned dramatically into the pillow.

"Oh for Merlin's sake. David! They want to check that you're not hanging around with me because of the whole war heroine thing!"

David lifted his head and looked seriously at her. "You know I'd never do that." He said. It hadn't even crossed his mind. If anything he had just been more worried about hanging out with her because of that.

"Of course I do," she put her hand on his cheek, "but they don't, they think I'm way too trusting and want to make sure you're up to standards even if we're not dating or anything," her cheeks reddened a little at that, "so you're going to have to suck it up and be a man about it." She gave his cheek a tap and carried on packing.

David meanwhile started panicking. He knew he was genuine in his intentions towards Hermione, _Oh Gods,_ he thought, _I sound like a 18__th__ century gentleman_, but that didn't stop him from worrying about meeting probably the most important blokes in Hermione's life. What if they thought he was a complete tosser and gave him a bad review to Hermione?

He was so utterly screwed and definitely not in the good way.

The next morning they ate breakfast in a sort of solemn silence. The holiday was going to be sort of bittersweet. He was excited to see the kids and spend time with them again but this was going to be two weeks away from Hermione. He hadn't realised how attached to her he'd gotten over these few short months.

He was secretly glad that she seemed to be thinking the same way.

"David," Hermione started, "I thought we could meet up on Christmas Eve. Maybe go to lunch."

"Lunch?" Did she mean a date? Were they going on a date?

"Yeah, so you can meet Harry and Ron, remember?" She looked up at him with a confused face.

Oh. Yeah. Of course he remembered. How could he forget?

"Yeah, that sounds good. " He grimaced. "Well not good because Harry and Ron might hate me but yeah that's good."

"They're not going to hate you." She sighed.

"If you say so." Hermione just rolled her eyes.

"Should we meet in Diagon Alley then, maybe at about one?" He agreed and he began to get a bit more enthusiastic about the holidays. He'd get to see her in two days now.

_I need to get her a present_.

After they finished breakfast they went about getting their stuff ready to go. If it wasn't for the fact that the train would leave without them they probably would have dawdled right into the afternoon.

As it was, they had to hurry up. He had planned to sit with his family and Hermione on the Hogwarts Express but his family had disappeared to sit with their new friends and Hermione had to randomly go off to check the train. He had mostly ended up sitting with a couple of lads from his dorm room, Hermione's friend Luna Lovegood and one of girls from Luna's dorm. He did get to see Hermione just not for the whole journey.

At one point he had gone to the loo and bumped into Hermione on his way back the compartment. Literally bumped.

He had closed the door to the loo and then Hermione had run into him.

"David!" She gasped.

"Gods, Hermione. What's the matter?"

"Nothing." She laughed. "I just didn't expect to see you. And then bump into you." She smiled up at him and, of course, he grinned right back.

"Why were you running?" He looked up to where she had come from, not seeing anything suspicious.

"I wasn't running. Walking fast, but that's it. I'm hungry."

"Hungry?"

"Yeah, I was going to get some food from the trolley." She smiled before looking around. What he hadn't expected to happen was for Hermione to drag him back into the loo.

"Hermione!" He knew exactly what that would have looked like if anyone had seen it.

"We won't have time to say goodbye on the platform, we'll both have a gang of people waiting to see us." She picked at his jumper. "And I'll miss you." He wasn't ashamed to admit that that warmed his heart. He definitely felt all warm and fuzzy at that.

"I'll miss you too." He pulled her into his arms and hung onto her. Of course he'd miss her. But he knew that realistically they couldn't meet up before Christmas Eve anyway and it was only a week and a bit after that.

He let his hands smooth down her curly hair and she seemed to grip him tighter. It was scary how attached they'd both become. He sometimes wondered if that was odd, maybe something he should worry about. It couldn't be healthy. But then when he had moments like this with her, when she clung to him as much as he did to her it was hard to give a damn about anything else.

"We'll see each other soon." He pulled back slightly and pressed his lips to her forehead before they both looked at each other and she slipped out of the door.

* * *

**Sorry if you just received two updates, I'm using a new internet and it confuses me.**

**And I'm also sorry that it took me two weeks to update, again! I took my laptop to this guy who was making it run faster, turns out he doesn't exactly run fast himself so it took a week and a half to get my laptop back.**

**Anyway, in the next couple of weeks I'm moving to London again for university so the next chapter should come as normal but it probably won't be on a Monday the week after. We'll have to see how things go. I think it's important that I keep you guys in the know so I hope that you don't hate me for saying it might not come on the normal day.  
**

**So lets get a few reviews in!**


	14. Chapter 14

When the train stopped at Platform 9¾ David and his family jumped off with the rest of the school. The platform was hectic but he could tell where his family was waiting, in the middle of all the chaos of course. The triplets were wreaking havoc. Lucy was never good with the triplets and she had clearly lost a bit of control over them.

Kim and Tammy were running circles around Lucy and he tried not to groan out loud when he saw Millie creeping up on a random child. Thank Gods she caught sight of him before she managed to get close enough. He didn't even want to think about what she had been planning.

"David!" She squealed. That alerted the rest of the family to his presence. He could see Lucy visibly relax at the sight of him. He knew she had been stressed. It was probably really selfish of him to be glad that she now knew how difficult looking after the children was. And she only had half of them. He guessed he was a bit bitter about it all.

When he got close enough to the family he knelt down so he could give each of the children a hug. The triplets practically climbed all over him, the twins were a little bit more restrained and finally Keira grabbed hold and didn't let go.

"I missed you." He told her as he stood up with her in his arms.

"Missed you too." She mumbled into his neck. He smiled and moved her around so he could pick up his trunk.

Just as they were about to leave he happened to catch sight of Hermione. She was surrounded by a group of redheads that he assumed was the Weasley family. He could also see Harry Potter mixed in the group. Hermione caught his gaze and they smiled at each other.

_Gods, she really is beautiful._

She gave him a brief wave and he waved back. Keira had looked up to see what he was doing and he laughed, loudly, when Keira waved at Hermione as well. "Minnie!" She pointed.

"Minnie?" He questioned.

"That's her name, silly." She grinned when Hermione waved back just as enthusiastically.

"I thought her name was Hermione." He spoke to her very seriously.

"That's too long." She shook her head. When he looked back at Hermione again she was being ushered off. "I like Minnie."

"I like Minnie too." Keira and he grinned at each other.

"David!" Lucy shouted. "Let's get going already."

"How are we getting back?"

Lucy grimaced. "The tube."

"Oh Gods."

Many hours later he had managed to get all the kids into bed. He and Lucy had flopped onto the sofa afterwards.

"Can I ask you something?" Lucy had turned to look at him.

"Go ahead." He smiled tiredly.

"How did you do this for a year? I'm so tired all the time. And I don't even work like you did." She did look tired.

"And you've only got half of them." He sighed.

"I've got two children of my own remember." He nodded at her.

"I honestly can't tell you how I got through last year." They both sighed and smiled sadly each other.

He spent the 23rd relaxing with his family. He was going to have to get some more Christmas tomorrow. He hadn't gotten Hermione anything but he wanted to. He didn't have much money left now especially after Lucy had gotten the kids presents for him. He still had no idea what he was going to get Hermione but he'd definitely been mulling it over.

"Daddy?" Keira's little hand tugged at his sleeve. He was sat on the floor playing with the kids.

"David. I'm David." He told her softly. If he thought 3 year olds were capable of rolling their eyes he would have said that was what Keira had done.

"Daddy, I go to nursery now." She smiled excitedly at him.

"I know. Lucy said you made some friends." She nodded.

"They aren't like us though." David frowned.

"What do you mean?" Keira didn't look up but continued to play.

"They can't do things like we can. Lucy said I'm not allowed to do the special things."

"You mean magic?" Keira nodded and smiled. "Magic is a big part of us. It's really special and when people who can't do magic find out about it, it can make them angry or sad or really happy. We don't know how they'll feel about it so we keep it a secret."

David hoped she understood. All the kids had really struggled with keeping it a secret at primary school. He still couldn't believe that there wasn't some kind of magical primary school. There were so many muggleborn children who spent their primary school years worried over something that was actually completely natural, but how are they supposed to know it's natural when no one else can do what you can do.

"But they could be happy." She frowned and he wondered how he was going to explain that most people aren't happy.

"Or they could be scared. People can get scared by things they don't understand."

"I don't like being scared. I wouldn't want anyone to be scared because of me."

"And that's why you should keep magic a secret."

She seemed to think about it for a while before nodding. "Okay daddy." She went back to playing but David frowned.

David had left a jewellers feeling quite proud of himself with his buy. He had come into London with Gabby and Lukas, Gabby had said she was meeting Draco and that he should stay out of her business, and Lukas claimed that he was getting last minute presents but David had a sneaking suspicion that he was meeting a girl.

David had been wandering aimlessly around central London; in the snow might he add, going into every shop to see if he could find something for Hermione. He had accidently strolled into the lingerie part of a women's shop, considered it for about a millisecond before practically running out of the shop. Eventually he had found a little jewellery shop in Diagon Alley where an old lady helped him pick out a gold bracelet that had a little shooting star on it that actually moved every so often around the bracelet. He had thought that it would have been ridiculously expensive but it hadn't been much more than he had been planning to spend.

So overall he was very happy, that was until he remembered that he would be meeting Harry and Ron. He would have been less nervous if she had introduced him to every single one of her family members.

What if they thought he was a coward for mostly living as a muggle all last year? He hadn't gotten involved in the war at all, would they think him pathetic?

He sighed. He had to admit, he was walking very slowly to the centre of Diagon Alley where he was meeting them. He just didn't want to make an idiot of himself. However, eventually he of course made it.

He looked around, not seeing them, and checked his watch. He was a couple minutes late and there was no sign of Hermione, Harry or Ron. Maybe Hermione had decided that he really wasn't that important after all so he didn't need to meet them.

He wasn't sure if that would preferable or not at the minute.

No, definitely not preferable. He really liked Hermione. She was intelligent, gorgeous, slightly crazy (in a cute way) and way better than he would ever deserve and she had already said that she liked him.

He stood there for a few more minutes before someone grabbed his coat and dragged him into the nearest shop.

"David!" He heard someone shout. He turned around, yanking the arm from his coat. Hermione was stood in the middle of the shop, grinning at him, with Harry Potter, who was definitely not grinning.

"What the hell was that all about?" He asked, calmly, all things considering.

"Yeah, sorry about that." A voice at the side of him said. He jerked his head to see Ron Weasley stood next to him, he was also not grinning.

"We kind of got mobbed this morning." Hermione walked towards him and wrapped her arms around his neck, giving him a hug. He gave her a quick squeeze back but tried not to linger whilst Harry and Ron were very clearly in view.

"Mobbed?" He murmured.

"By people saying thank you." Hermione had a sad smile on her face. He saved that away for later, he should see if she's ready to talk about last year when they go back to Hogwarts.

"Not everyone was saying thank you." Harry grimaced.

"Some people were bloody rude really." Ron mirrored Harry's face.

"They were angry?" He suddenly looked towards Hermione to see if there were any signs of bruises or cuts.

"Not angry, but they wanted pictures and autographs." She sighed. "Some people are just ruthless when it comes to things like that."

"Are you okay?" He asked. "How ruthless were they?"

"I'm fine." She rolled her eyes. "Anyway, David, I'd like you to meet Harry and Ron. Harry, Ron, this is David." She introduced. He swallowed his fear and held his hand out to Ron who was closest. Ron looked unsure but did take his hand with an absolute death grip. Harry, doing exactly the same thing when he shook his hand.

He cleared his throat and asked where they were going to lunch. Hermione had said that they were going to go to the Leaky Cauldron but changed their minds after all that so they were going to a muggle place but would be apparating into a back street.

"I'll side along with David, you two go ahead." Hermione smiled encouragingly at Harry and Ron who looked very reluctant to leave her with him. With a final glare at David they both apparated. "I missed you." She smiled up at him.

"I missed you too." He pulled her in for another hug but this time he hugged her close and buried his nose in her hair. He was pretty much ecstatic to feel her lean against him and taking comfort from him. "I got you a Christmas present." He murmured.

"Really?" Her head popped up and she looked up at him. Gods, her lips were so close to his right now. "I got you one too but I wasn't sure if we were doing presents."

"Well I did get you one." He pulled away but didn't take a step back. "Here." He handed over the little red gift bag that the old lady from the shop had provided. Hermione took at and peered at it curiously. "Wait until tomorrow though." He was suddenly having doubts about the present. Hermione smiled at him but still rolled her eyes.

"Then you have to wait as well!" She pulled a large silver gift bag from that tiny little beaded bag of hers.

Why was it so big? Oh gods. What if she had spent a lot of money? He barely had any money left so he hadn't been able to spend an awful lot.

"Should we get going then?" She grabbed hold of his hand and suddenly apparated.

Circe, that was rough. He hadn't side along apparated with someone for years.

They made their way into a cosy looking restaurant that could have been mistaken for a café and soon found Harry and Ron sat right in the back.

They sat down and order drinks, all the while making polite small talk, _what subjects are you taking at Hogwarts, how is Auror training_...

Eventually they all ordered lunch and whilst they were waiting for it to arrive Hermione went off to the bathroom leaving David with Harry and Ron.

He nearly followed her but decided that Harry and Ron wouldn't think much of him if he didn't even have the balls to be alone with them.

"So David," Ron began, "'Mione said you weren't at school last year."

"No err," David cleared his throat, "my mum died a few years ago and I had to look after my family. There are a lot of them so…" He trailed off. He wasn't comfortable to talking about this with anyone but he certainly didn't want to lie to them. David took a big gulp of his drink, wishing it was something stronger than coffee.

"Are you hanging out with Hermione for the money then?" Harry accused, David and Ron both seemed to splutter. David pretty much chocked on his drink.

"What? No!" He didn't even know Hermione had any money, for Merlin's sake.

"Bloody hell, mate." Ron muttered. David was secretly glad that Ron was as shocked with the outburst as he was.

"Look, I know you're trying to protect Hermione. I'm glad she's got people in her life that will look out for her. I know _I_ certainly intend to give my sister's boyfriends – err friends," he was going to choke on his tongue in a minute, "hell but you can't go accusing people of that. I work my arse off to give my brothers and sisters what they deserve and won't have anyone, not even the Boy Who Lived," bloody fucking hell did he just say that, "belittle my efforts by suggesting that I would use an amazing girl like Hermione for money." David's brain suddenly caught up with what he was saying and he cleared his throat awkwardly again.

Ron and Harry looked at each other for a long moment and David died a bit inside. They were going to tell Hermione that he was no good. Oh shit. Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit.

He could see Hermione leave the toilet. Shit. Well it was nice while it had lasted. He really wished he'd gotten a chance to kiss her. At least he'd have all those nights where they talked until midnight. And that day he'd told her about the box of gifts he'd received from the kids and they had sat on his bed.

Hermione sat down in her chair and glanced around the table.

"What's happened?" She asked cautiously.

"We were just talking." Ron said. Harry and Ron looked at each other again.

"We were actually discussing the New Year's Eve party Ginny is throwing at Grimmauld Place. Thought David might want to come." Harry looked straight at David. What the hell was happening?

"Really?" Hermione smiled. "That's great. You don't have any plans, do you?"

Harry and David shared a look before he turned to Hermione and shook his head.

"No plans. I was just going to stay home with the kids but I'm sure they'll manage a night without me."

"Great! We should tell Draco that he can bring Gabrielle!"

David had no idea what had happened but he had somehow managed to get Harry and Ron's approval

* * *

**On time for once! I'm not sure if the next one will be though. I'll be moving this weekend so it might be quite difficult for me to post an update next Monday. We'll see though.**

**I hope you liked the chapter.**

**Review!**


	15. Chapter 15

David had had an amazing Christmas.

They had an on-going tradition for Christmas Eve that included fish and chips for tea, watching a Christmas film and then opening a stocking filler type present before going to bed. The kids loved it as a tradition, even Gabby, so they stuck to it and David was glad to see that it was one of the few things that hadn't changed throughout the year.

The younger kids were all in bed fairly early. Since all the kids had gone to muggle primary schools they had all grown up with the belief that Santa was well and truly real. Pureblood Wizarding kids had no idea about Santa. David thought that there couldn't be anything better as a kid than thinking that Santa would come give you presents.

So the kids, under the belief that they had to be asleep before midnight or Santa wouldn't come, were all fast asleep. David had put Keira in her bed but he had heard her creep into his room only minutes after. He couldn't be angry about it on Christmas, not that he was ever really angry.

Samantha, Craig and Leo all stayed up for an hour or so more but, even though they didn't believe in Santa anymore, they were still excited for Christmas. It was a bit harder to get Lukas and Gabrielle to go to bed though. Lukas refused to go until David did and Gabrielle was just being stubborn. Lucy was doing some preparations for tomorrow in the kitchen so he got no help from her and of course Horven was being the dutiful husband and was trying to get the their children off to sleep.

Horven was a good bloke really, David was a bit bitter that he had swept Lucy off her feet and taken her away a few years ago even though he was still stuck in the same situation. He knew that Horven was good for Lucy though, no matter how bitter he was.

At about midnight he and Lucy brought down the kids presents and set them about the living room, they then went and put the stockings on the end of the kid's beds. David had laughed to see the Triplets all sharing the bed. The younger girls shared one room, except Gabby who had stolen Horven's office in the loft and had finally allowed Samantha in to share, so they had taken two bunk beds from the flat last year and put them in the room. It was a tight fit but it worked. However, the girls seemed to think they only need one bed and Keira barely slept in her bed anyway.

The boys, apart from Lukas who slept in the same room as him, slept in another room downstairs. Originally a dining room it was converted for the year to a bedroom. There as two single beds which the youngest twins shared because they still hadn't mastered the art of not falling out the bunk bed, which Craig and Leo now used.

Horven and Lucy and their two kids shared the master bedroom at the minute. David felt guilty about that but Lucy was constantly telling him that she should have taken more sacrifices earlier on and then they maybe wouldn't be in the situation they were in now. He didn't know if that was true or not but he was kind of glad that she obviously recognised his own sacrifices.

Eventually he climbed into his own bed, waking up Keira a little bit in the process. Lukas had gone to bed only a few minutes before him but he was already snoring.

"Daddy? Has Santa been yet?" David smiled to himself.

"I don't know. Maybe." Keira lifted her head and David could see her peering at him in the dark.

"I was good this year, so he'll be here soon." She told him and he couldn't help but grin at her. "You were good too. I bet you get the most presents." She smiled at him then laid her head back on the pillow. Apparently the kids had noticed his sacrifices as well. He was happy that he had helped raised such good kids.

The next morning he was woken up by all the younger kids.

"David!"

"Wake up!"

"It's Christmas!"

He opened an eye and saw all the kids surrounding the bed. He smiled but decided to turn over and put his face into the pillow.

"David!" That was Millie. "You can't go back to sleep!"

"Yeah! It's Christmas!" That was Kim, he was pretty sure it was Kim who poked his arm.

"No, Christmas is cancelled." He grumbled, still smiling into the pillow.

"What?" Tom sounded distraught.

"No it's not. We already opened our Stockings!" Tammy told them all.

"You know what you need to do," he heard Lukas joining in now, this wasn't going to be good, "he's a lazy boy, you need to wake him up." What? "Jump on him." What? No.

Before he could even think of making a move he had several feet and hands grabbing and kicking him. He was so glad he'd turned over or he'd have been rushed to the hospital to have certain…groin parts operated on.

He gave a slight roar and grabbed two of the kids whilst standing up, trying to be careful of course. The kids shouted and laughed and he managed to attract the attention of Lucy and Samantha who both laughed at him.

Suddenly he stilled and the kids stilled too.

"I'm up so… Let's go open presents!" He shouted and the kids all cheered.

They opened the presents that were from Santa and then had bacon sandwiches for breakfast, as they did every year. After they opened the presents that were left, the presents that were from distant family members and friends, they went outside for an hour. It had snowed a couple of days before but nothing had particularly settled so they took Edward and Tom's new bikes, they were second hand but looked brand new, and started to teach them how to ride.

After a few scraped knees they came back inside for Christmas dinner. Lucy had really done an amazing job on the food. Gabby had 'helped' but mostly it was all done by Lucy. They had taken the kitchen table and put it in the living room, extended it with a few charms and set up there. They pulled the crackers and ate way too much food then finished the meal with a crap load of Christmas pudding.

After the table was all cleared away and put back to normal size they went back into the living room to watch another Christmas film and let the kids play with their new toys. David had lost count of the amount of batteries he had put in the back of toys; he wondered why some toys had to have a screwdriver to get into the battery bit, it was seriously inconvenient.

When the evening started to draw in and the kids started to fall asleep clutching their new toys David realised there was a still a present he hadn't opened. When he felt like he could go upstairs unnoticed he slipped out of the living room and went into his bedroom.

He got the gift bag from under his bed and pulled out two beautiful wrapped presents.

One was wrapped in gold paper with red ribbon and the other was wrapped in red paper with gold ribbon. Typical that Hermione would be fantastic at wrapping presents as well as everything else. He picked up the card at the bottom of the gift bag first and opened it. He smiled at the card, the Wizarding card had Santa and his reindeer riding on and off a roof. Inside Hermione had written '_Dear David, I hope you and your family are having a wonderful Christmas, tell them I said Merry Christmas. Love from, Hermione._'

David took a minute to appreciate the '_love from_' before ripping into the first present.

He pulled out a blue t-shirt which had the Superman logo on.

_That's brilliant_, he thought. It was random but he loved it.

He opened the other present and found a black t-shirt with the Batman logo on.

Maybe she thought he was her superhero. He would have loved to think that was true but had to dismiss it due to the fact that she a war heroine and when he had accidently burnt himself she had been pretty quick to rescue him, not the other way around.

Not that he cared overall, he loved the presents and went to write a quick a letter to her thanking her for the present... And asking her to meet up before the New Year's Eve party.

They did meet up a couple of days later. He was definitely excited to see her without any other company.

They had decided to go straight to a muggle place to avoid anyone recognising her. He knew a quiet restaurant close to central London and he asked Hermione to meet him there for dinner. He didn't want to call it a date but it was pretty much a date.

He had been grinning all day. Gabby called him an idiot, not that he paid much attention to her. He did start to worry when even Lucy was giving him weird glances but he couldn't help it.

Just before he was set to leave Lucy asked him to take Keira, he tried explaining that he was meeting a girl but Lucy gave him an exasperated look and decided that he definitely couldn't be bothered to face the wrath of Lucy so he picked up Keira, put her coat on her and left the house.

"Where are we going?" Keira asked when they got the tube.

"We're going to go see Hermione." Her eyes lit up then.

"Minnie?" She asked. "Minnie was fun."

He smiled. Of course 'Minnie' had a special place in Keira's heart, she is amazing.

When they got to the restaurant couldn't find Hermione, he was a few minutes early after all, so he took a table near the front of the restaurant and ordered a drink for Keira.

He was nervous. Meeting up with Hermione was exciting and nerve wracking enough without bringing Keira. What if Hermione thought it was a date but then saw Keira and decided that he wasn't bothered about going on a date?

Oh Gods.

Keira was talking but he didn't hear too much of it. Especially when he saw Hermione coming in. He stood up suddenly and Keira stopped talking.

"Minnie!" Keira shouted. Several people turned around, including Hermione.

He was very happy to see her grin at the sight of Keira, and her smile only got bigger as she looked at him. He guessed that that was a good sign.

"Hey," she said and went in for a hug. He pulled her in at the same time. Of course. He wasn't going to miss the opportunity to give her hug. To have her close.

"Hey," he replied, it was kind of muffled by Hermione's hair but she gripped him tighter before finally pulling away.

"And hello to you." She took the chair next to Keira and Keira pretty much jumped on Hermione. They spoke for a little while before Hermione put Keira back into her chair.

He was glad that they got on. He assumed that Hermione wasn't pretending to like Keira; she wasn't that sort of girl after all. And Keira certainly wouldn't pretend to like someone she didn't. She was too young to know that you should be polite to people who you don't like.

"How was your Christmas?" He asked Hermione after a waitress had been to the table and given Keira a colouring book to keep her occupied.

"It was really good, I especially liked my presents." She lifted her wrist to show the bracelet that he had gotten her. He smiled at her and she grinned back.

"I liked mine too." He unzipped the front of his jacket to show her the Superman t-shirt.

"I know you said you used to get the comic books but I wasn't sure which ones you were fans of." She bit down on her lip and looked up him.

"That's why they're superhero tops?" Wow. She had really listened to him. He knew that girls were better at that but this was weeks ago. She had listened to him and remembered. Not just trivial information but something important.

He was suddenly flawed.

"Of course! Does it fit all right? I thought I guessed your size right." She reached over the table and ran her fingers around the edge of the neck of the t-shirt. Judging by the look that Hermione gave him after he stared her he guessed he was pretty intense.

He cleared his throat before talking again.

"Of course it fits." He caught her hand in his as she went to pull it away. "I think it's a girlfriend… Er… girl thing. You can guess sizes a lot more accurately than a guy can. Because you know, girls buy their boy… Er… Friends, erm, clothes quite a lot, I think," he paused to take a breather, "I just mean that… Forget it, I'm just babbling." Hermione smirked at him and gave his hand a squeeze.

"Daddy, you're goofy." Keira suddenly chipped in.

"David." He corrected her and Keira once again gave her the look that suggested that she understood but couldn't care less.

"Still goofy." She told him.

"Yeah, well I'm not arguing that." He muttered.

"He's not too goofy though." Hermione stage whispered to Keira. "Just a little."

"Just a little." Keira agreed.

"Well thanks girls, that makes me feel loads better." He rolled his eyes. Secretly smiling inside his mind.

"We weren't talking to you!" Keira informed him and then her and Hermione had a little giggle at his expense.

His mind drifted and he wondered if conversations like this would take place if Hermione lived with him. If they lived together. With the kids, but together.

He shook his head and gestured to the waitress so he could order food. He needed to get his mind off of intense thoughts like that. They weren't even dating and he's thinking about them living together.

They made chit chat over dinner and David found himself feeling more and more comfortable with the idea of sitting down with dinner and his family. And Hermione.

They finished the meal with some ice cream but eventually they had to call it day and they stood outside the restaurant trying to hold on to the last few minutes they would spend together for a couple of days.

"So you're definitely coming to the New Year's eve party?" She asked.

"Definitely." He nodded.

"Can I come?" Keira asked. She tugged on David's hand.

"Maybe next year." Hermione smiled. "I'd best go." She leaned forward and gave him another hug. He gave her a one armed, but still firm, hug and then slowly let go. Hermione leaned down to give Keira a hug and a kiss on the head and then she was gone.

He was going to miss her. Again.

* * *

**Now, I know you must all want to murder me but I did tell you that I was moving so that I wouldn't be updating for a couple of weeks. I've come home for a couple of days so I have wifi (thank goodness) and I get wifi sometime next week at my new flat so it'll be a two week wait again I'm afraid and then hopefully back to normal.**

**So if you don't hate me... Review! Because knowing that other people enjoy my writing is fantastic. It's what keeps me going.**


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